/ 






^j 



MODERN 
AND CONTEMPORARY 

EUROPEAN HISTORY 



BY 



J. SALWYN SCHAPIRO, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor of History in The College of the City of New York 



UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF 

JAMES T. SHOTWELL, Ph.D. 

Professor of History in Columbia University 







HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

(Cbe fiibergibe ptc#$ Cambridge 









COFYRIGHT, I91S, BY J. SALWYN SCHAPIRO 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



3+6 + 



AUG 26 1918 



. TRINTED AT 

Wnt &iticrst6f £rrss 

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 



! 5<i8 



TO 

PROFESSOR WILLIAM G. McGUCKIN 

INSPIRING TEACHER AND DEAR FRIEND WHO 

AWAKENED IN ME THE LOVE FOR THE 

STUDY OF HISTORY 



PREFACE 

The present volume is an attempt to describe in brief 
compass the evolution of European civilization during the 
nineteenth century. This period, which historically began 
with Waterloo and ended at Liege, is truly modern history, 
-for the problems that it solved and the problems that it 
left unsolved are those that vitally concern the present 
generation. 

Believing that the main function of history is to explain 
the present, I planned in writing this book to devote in- 
creasingly more attention to the periods as they approached 
our own time. The epoch since 1870, therefore, occupies 
more than half of the volume, for I have felt that it was of 
paramount importance in a history of modern and contem- 
porary Europe to describe the various problems that con- 
fronted the European nations at the beginning of the twen- 
tieth century. The introductory chapter is a resume of the 
ancien regime, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic 
Empire; and it was written for the purpose of reviewing 
the antecedents of the nineteenth century, that the reader 
might not plunge into this period without preparation. 

At one time the problem of how to write history was com- 
paratively simple. It was solved in advance for the prospec- 
tive historian : all that he had to do was to write a chronolog- 
ical narrative of political and military events. Once that 
was accomplished his task was done. But that method of 
writing history is no longer considered adequate. The chron- 
ological narrative in its very simplicity is confusing. It 
simplifies too much by chronicling in succession various 
subjects which, though closely related, cannot be clearly 
understood unless they are disentangled and treated topi- 
cally. The purely political history was based on the theory 
that man is essentially a "political animal"; hence, the State 
was not merely an institution created by him, but the sum 



VI 



PREFACE 



total of all his ambitions, ideals, and accomplishments. 
History, then, was "past politics." But this interpretation 
erred in being orre-sided. If man is a "political animal," he 
is also a social and economic animal, a thinking animal, a 
religious animal, even a writing animal. In this volume I 
have endeavored to solve two problems: (i) a modification 
of the chronological order in such a way as to permit, in 
the most important matters at least, topical treatment, and 
(2) the inclusion of social, economic, a«nd cultural matters 
with the military and political. 

" It is the unhappy usage of our schools and universities," 
writes H. G. Wells, " to study the history of mankind only 
during periods of mechanical unprogressiveness. The his- 
torical ideas of Europe range between the time when the 
Greeks were going about the world on foot or horseback or 
in galleys or sailing ships to the days when Napoleon, Wel- 
lington, and Nelson were going about at very much the 
same pace in much the same vehicles and vessels. At the 
advent of steam and electricity the Muse of History holds 
her nose and shuts her eyes. Science will study and get the 
better of a modern disease, as, for example, sleeping sick- 
ness, in spite of the fact that it has no classical standing, but 
our history schools would be shocked at the bare idea of 
studying the effect of modern means of communication upon 
administrative areas, large or small." This reproach can 
no longer be cast at our newer textbooks in European his- 
tory. In the present volume I have given generous space to 
the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions and to their 
manifold effects upon modern life. 

Furthermore, I have ventured to include sections on lit- 
erature, a feature entirely neglected in nearly all our general 
histories of Europe. Why third-rate politicians like Lord 
Liverpool and Ollivier should find place in history, and lit- 
erary men of the first order like Thackeray and Hugo should 
be left out, has always appeared to me an anomaly. Litera- 
ture has never been so removed from the life of the times 
that the historian can afford to neglect it. 

A history of nineteenth-century Europe would be incom- 



PREFACE vii 

plete without an explanation of significant social move- 
ments such as socialism, syndicalism, and feminism, that 
have profoundly influenced the ideals and lives of millions 
in every country. Therefore I have devoted considerable 
space to explain these movements. 

Obviously the history of the World War cannot be written 
now. In my chapter on the War, I have merely described 
in brief general outline important campaigns without giving 
statistical details. 

This book is based in part on original sources, but mainly 
on a wide and careful reading of many excellent books in 
the field, both general and special, and on a fair degree of 
familiarity gained from an affectionate study of the liter- 
ature and art of modern and contemporary Europe. 

J. Salwyn Schapiro 

The College of the City of New York 
June, 19 18 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The teachers of history in America owe a great debt 
of gratitude to Professor James Harvey Robinson, of Co- 
lumbia University, chief protagonist and brilliant inter- 
preter of the New History. In his History of Western 
Europe, Professor Robinson produced a history textbook 
that is at the same time a work of original scholarship. 
This volume was the first of its kind to give coherence and 
viewpoint to complex historical material and to emphasize 
social and cultural elements. After Professor Robinson, no 
one may now write an old-style textbook, a compendium 
of dry facts, mainly political and military, hastily put 
together by hack writer or tired historian. The author of 
this book is proud and glad to acknowledge indebtedness 
to Professor Robinson, under whose suggestive guidance he 
began his graduate studies in history. 

The author also gratefully acknowledges his debt to 
Professor James T. Shotwell, of Columbia University, his 
former teacher and the editor of this volume, whose wide 
range of scholarship has been at his ready disposal and 
whose fertile suggestions have greatly assisted him in pre- 
paring the book. Several specialists have rendered signal 
service in reading chapters that fall within their fields. The 
author, therefore, desires to express gratitude to Mr. George 
Louis Beer, who read the chapters on the British Empire 
and the Expansion of Europe; to his colleagues, Professor 
Stephen P. Duggan, who read the chapter on the Near 
Eastern Question; Mr. Alfonso Arbib-Costa, who read 
the chapters on Italy; and Professor Felix Grendon, who 
read the sections on English literature; to Professor Carlton 
H. J. Hayes, of Columbia University, who read the chapter 
on the World War; and to Mr. William English Walling, 
who read the chapters on Russia. 

The author is deeply grateful to his colleague, Dr. Austin 



x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Baxter Keep, whose sense for the right word and correct 
expression has been manifest in his painstaking reading of 
page proofs. Above all, he wishes to acknowledge his debt 
to his dear friend, Mr. Jacob J. Shufro, who spent many 
weary hours revising the manuscript and reading the 
galley proofs. Whatever value the book may possess in 
clarity of expression is in no small degree due to the help 
of Mr. Shufro. 

Nor can the author conclude without a word of tribute 
to the high scholarship and character of his valued teacher, 
Henry Phelps Johnston, now Emeritus Professor of His- 
tory in The College of the City of New York, who gra- 
ciously welcomed him as his colleague. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I. Introduction i 

Europe at the end of the eighteenth century — Government — 
Religion and education — The economic system — The intellectual 
revolution — The French Revolution — The First Empire — The 1 
heritage of the French Revolution. 

CHAPTER II. Restoration and Reaction 17 

The Congress of Vienna — Suppression of Liberalism — The Holy 
Alliance. 

CHAPTER III. The Industrial Revolution 25 

The domestic system — Mechanical inventions — Revolution in 
transportation — Revolution in communication — Results of the 
Industrial Revolution. 

CHAPTER IV. Old England 45 

Political conditions — Religious conditions — Social conditions — 
The agricultural revolution. 

CHAPTER V. The Making of Modern England, 1815-67 . . 57 

The Great Reform Bill of 1832 — The Era of Reform — Political 
history (1832-67) — Industrial progress — Religious reform — 
Romantic and Victorian literature. 

CHAPTER VI. Democracy and Reaction in France, 1815-52 . 89 
Conservative and radical elements in French society — The In- 
dustrial Revolution — The Restoration — The July Monarchy — 
The Second Republic — Overthrow of the Second Republic — Ro- 
mantic movement in French literature. 

CHAPTER VII. Central Europe, 1815-50 115 

Introduction — Prussia — The German Confederation — Young 
Germany — The Zollverein — The Revolution of 1848 in Prussia — 
The uprising in Austria — The National movement — Results of 
•the Revolution of 1848 — Intellectual development — Young Ger- 
many in literature. 

CHAPTER VIII. The Second French Empire 145 

Period of absolute rule — Social and economic progress — The 
Empire and the Church — The Liberal Empire — Foreign policy 
— Literature during the Empire. 

CHAPTER IX. The Unification of Germany 169 

Reaction in Prussia — The patriotic historians — Bismarck — The 
Seven Weeks' War — The Franco-Prussian War. 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER X. Union and Democracy in Italy 195 

Causes of disunion — The Restoration — The Carbonari — Young 
Italy — The Revolution of 1848 — Cavour — Garibaldi — Rome. 

CHAPTER XI. The Third French Republic 220 

Thiers and the reconstruction of France — The Commune — Gam- 
betta and the triumph of the Republic — Government and parties — 
Political history (1879-96) — Economic progress — The Dreyfus 
Affair — Suppression of the Congregations — Separation of Church 
and State — Social legislation — The labor movement — Political 
history (1906-14) — Literature under the Republic. 

CHAPTER XII. The German Empire 277 

Government — Political parties — The army — Bismarck as 
Chancellor — Economic progress — Results of the Industrial Revo- 
lution — Reign of William II — Problem of the non-Germans — 
The movement for popular control — Deutsche Kultur. 

CHAPTER XIII. Political and Social Democracy in Great 
Britain, 1867-1914 324 

Government and parties — Political history (1867-1906) — Re- 
ligious and educational reforms — Advance of trade unionism — 
The Land Question — Social England — Economic progress — 
Literature. 

CHAPTER XIV. The Irish Question 382 

Introduction — Catholic Emancipation — The Agrarian question 
and its solution — Home Rule. 

CHAPTER XV. The British Empire . . ... . . .399 

India — Egypt — The crown colonies — Canada — Australia and 
New Zealand — South Africa — Imperial Federation. 

CHAPTER XVI. Austria-Hungary, 1850-1914 . . . . .424 
Establishment of the Dual Monarchy — Austria and her race 
problems — Austria (1867-1914) — Hungary (1867-1914). 

CHAPTER XVII. The Kingdom of Italy, 1870-1914 . . . .442 
Government and political parties — Problems after unification 
— Economic and social progress — Political history (1870-1914) — 
Foreign policies — Literature during the nineteenth century. 

CHAPTER XVIII. The Iberian Peninsula 459 

Restoration in Spain — The Revolutionary movement — The 
dynastic struggle — Political history of Spain (1885-19 14) — Por-. 
tugal. 

CHAPTER XIX. The Scandinavian Nations . . . .' . 472 
Denmark — Sweden and Norway — Scandinavian literature. 

CHAPTER XX. Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland . . . 484 
The Netherlands — Belgium — The Swiss Confederation. 

CHAPTER XXI. Russia, 1815-81 499 

Introduction — Reign of Alexander I (1801-25) — Reign of 
Nicholas I (1825-55) — Abolition of serfdom — Political reforms — 



CONTENTS xiii 

The Polish Rebellion — The Revolutionary movement — The Rus- 
sian novel. 

CHAPTER XXII. Russia at the End of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury ' 524 

Reign of Alexander III (1881-94) — Races in Russia — Anti- Jewish 
legislation — The Orthodox Church — The peasants — The Intelli- 
gentsia — System of government — The Industrial Revolution. 

CHAPTER XXIII. The Russian Revolution of' 1905 . . . 546 
Reform movement in the reign of Nicholas II — The general strike 

— Political parties — The Dumas — Failures of the Revolution — 
Successes of the Revolution. 

CHAPTER XXIV. Revolutionary Labor Movements . . . 570 
Socialism: Introduction — The Utopians — Karl Marx — Criticism 
of socialism — The Socialist International — Anarchism — Syndi- 
* calism. 

CHAPTER XXV. The Woman's Movement 603 

Position of woman in society — Origin of feminism — Woman 
Suffrage — Progress of woman. 

CHAPTEfe XXVI. Science 611 

Geology — Evolution — Chemistry — Physics — Medicine and 
surgery — r Exploration. 

CHAPTER XXVII. The Near Eastern Question .... 621 
Introduction — Independence of Greece (1821-29) — The Crimean 
War (1854-56)— The Russo-Turkish War (1877-78) — Bulgaria 
(1878-1912) — Rumania (1878-1912) — Greece (1832-1912) — 
Serbia and Montenegro (1878-1912) — Turkey (1878-1912) — The 
Balkan Wars (1912-13). 

CHAPTER XXVIII. The Expansion of Europe .... 650 
The new Industrial Revolution — The new imperialism — China 

— Japan — Expansion of Russia — Africa — Results of imperialism. 

CHAPTER XXIX. International Relations, 1870-1914 . . 684 
The Triple Alliance — The Dual Alliance — Rivalry between 
England and Germany — The diplomatic revolution — The peace 
movement — Morocco — The Bagdad Railway — The Balkans. 



CHAPTER XXX. The World War 

Introduction — Quarrel between Austria and Serbia — Russia 
and Germany — Violation of Belgian neutrality — The Balkans — 
Summary of causes — Military strength of the combatants — First 
Year of the World War (August, 1914-July, 1915) — Second Year 
of the World War (August, 1915-July, 1916) — Third Year of the 
World War (August, 1916-July, 1917) — The War in Asia and Africa 
(August, 1914-July, 1917) — Naval operations — The United States 
and the War — The Russian Revolution — Peace proposals — Great 
Britain during the World War — Germany during the World War — 
France during the World War — Fourth Year of the World War 
(August, 191 7- ) 



709 



xiv CONTENTS 

APPENDIX — 

Rulers of the European Nations since the French Revolution 757 
Popes since 1775 759 

, Prime Ministers of Great Britain since 1783 . . . .759 
Chancellors of the German Empire 760 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 761 

INDEX 79i 



MAPS 

1 Europe in 1815 {colored) Frontispiece ' 

2 Industrial England 35, 

3 Expansion of Prussia (colored) 118 

4 Central Europe (1 815-1866) (colored) 184 

5 Eastern France — The Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71 . . 191 

6 Unification of Italy (1815-1870) (colored) 196 

7 France, 1914 (colored) 220 

8 The German Empire, 1914 (colored) 278 

9 Industrial Germany 298 

10 The United Kingdom, 1914 370 

11 Canada and Newfoundland, 1914 • . . 409 

12 The Southern Pacific, 19 14 (colored) 412 

13 Austria-Hungary, 1914 (colored) 424 

14 Races in Central and Eastern Europe (colored) .... 428 

15 Partitions of Poland 502 

16 European Russia, 1914 (colored) 524 

17 Southeastern Europe (18 15-1908) 622 

18 The Balkan Nations, 1914 (colored) 646 

19 Asia, 1914 (colored) 658 

20 Africa, 1914 (colored) 676 

21 The Berlin-Bagdad Railway 703 

22 Europe, 1914 (colored) . , 709 

23 Strategic Railways in Germany . 723 

24 The Western Front 726 

25 The Eastern Front 729 

26 The Italian Front 731 

27 The German Penetration of Russia, 1917-18 . ' . . . 747 



MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY 
EUROPEAN HISTORY 

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

Europe at the End of the Eighteenth Century 

Modern history is of comparatively recent origin. The 
present system of society, with its industrial organization, 
democratic government, and scientific outlook, n . . . 

° ' _ ' Contrasts in 

is a product of conditions that came into exist- eighteenth- 
ence hardly a century ago; for in spite of Colum- century 
bus, Luther, Copernicus, and Newton, the life and thought 
of the average person in Europe at the end of the eighteenth 
century were not very much different from that of his an- 
cestors in the later Middle Ages. It is true that the medi- 
eval system had received mighty blows at the hands of the 
Humanists of the Renaissance and of the Protestants of the 
Reformation ; that the classics had received full recognition 
in the universities; that a system of national churches had 
displaced the international Catholic Church; that feudal 
aristocracy had given way to absolute monarchy; and that 
discoveries had expanded the known world. It is also true 
that the pioneers of science had begun to make those dis- 
coveries in physics and astronomy which were destined to 
reconstruct the whole intellectual horizon of Europe. But 
the great mass of people remained untouched by these 
changes; they continued to plow their fields in the same old 
way, to make things by hand, and to quarrel bitterly about 
religion. Many doubtless still believed the earth to be 
flat in spite of the Greeks, Columbus, and Magellan. In 
fact the religious wars and persecutions of the sixteenth, 
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries showed medievalism 
at its worst, for not only were heretics persecuted as of yore, 



2 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

but the Christian nations crusaded against one another, 
Protestants and Catholics alike, while millions of human 
beings were slaughtered for the " greater glory of God" and 
for the special benefit of church or king. 

At the end of the eighteenth century there took place 
three great revolutions, which transformed every aspect of 
The three European society and created the world in which 
revolutions we now ]i ve These movements were the Intel- 
lectual Revolution, which gave birth to new points of view 
in philosophy, literature, and science; the French Revolu- 
tion, which proclaimed democratic principles of govern- 
ment; and the Industrial Revolution, which inaugurated 
our present economic life. We shall now take a brief sur- 
vey of conditions in Europe during the ancien regime, which 
is a general term used to describe the system of society 
and government before these changes took place. 

Government 

The government of nearly every European country at 
the end of the eighteenth century was monarchical, and 
Ab ol te everywhere the monarch was absolute, except in 
monarchy England, which had established a parliamentary 
system. Feudalism on its political side had dis- 
appeared, and the once haughty noble was transformed 
into the fawning courtier. Only in Germany did political 
feudalism still maintain itself; there, the lord continued to 
govern and to judge as he had done in medieval times. The 
explanation given for absolute monarchy was known as 
"divine right," which asserted that the king's right to 
govern came from God, to whom alone he was responsible 
for his acts. Was a king good, just, and wise? Then the 
people were fortunate. Was he wicked, cruel, and stupid? 
Then they were unfortunate. In no case were they to 
revolt, for disobedience was not only a crime to be punished 
on earth, but likewise a sin to be punished in the hereafter. 
In case a bad king reigned, the people were to bear his rule 
patiently and meekly, and to pray to God to soften his 
heart. This doctrine of "divine right" was insistently 



INTRODUCTION 3 

preached by the loyal followers of the monarch. Lutheran 
Prussia subscribed to it as heartily as Catholic Spain. 

In medieval times, the largest part of the taxes came 
from land. But the commercial expansion of the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries increased the scope of Privileges of 
government, and taxes had to be increased corre- the nobles 
spondingly in order to pay the expenses of a rapidly devel- 
oping bureaucracy. While the kings of the ancien regime 
still gathered around them the territorial lords who, in 
former days, had been their bitter opponents, they now 
looked more and more to the middle classes for the main- 
tenance of the State. But their traditions and sympathies, 
however, remained with the landed aristocracy; and the 
latter were consequently exempt in large measure from the 
ever increasing burden of taxation, as is revealed by the 
legislation of the eighteenth century. 

Religion and Education 

The Protestant Revolution had broken up the religious 
monopoly of the Catholic Church, but it had by no means 
established religious equality, or even tolera- The stem 
tion. Indeed, Protestant theologians like Luther, of national 
Calvin, Knox, and Cranmer were as insistent on 
conformity to the established religion as their Catholic 
opponents. The fundamental principle of the Protestant 
Revolution was religious independence rather than religious 
freedom, the idea that every nation had the right to estab- 
lish its own type of Christianity. " One World, one Faith," 
had been the demand of the Catholic. In the warfare of 
creeds in the seventeenth century, the futility of this ideal 
became apparent, and a new principle, "one Nation, one 
Faith," took its place. But as the nation had not yet 
attained any adequate means of self-expression, the mon- 
arch and the governing class were generally able to force 
upon it their own form of religion. Hence it came about 
that the religion of the king became by law the religion of 
the people, and official churches were*organized to preach 
it. This is how we get the system of established churches. 



4 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Toleration was the one thing that both Catholics and 
Protestants rejected. Conformity to the national religion 
was the law everywhere; hence nonconformists and free- 
thinkers found themselves persons without a country. The 
degree of intolerance varied with the strength of the estab- 
lished Church. In Spain, where Catholic hegemony was 
unchallenged, heretics were still burned at the stake. In 
England, where the established Anglican Church had many 
opponents, both Catholic and Protestant, nonconformists 
were merely fined and imprisoned. The Church, particu- 
larly in Catholic countries, was very wealthy, as it owned 
vast tracts of land which yielded enormous revenues. In 
addition, a special tax, called the tithe, was levied on the 
people, irrespective of their religious beliefs, for the benefit 
of the official religion. 

Education was almost exclusively in the hands of the 
clergy, and theology was still the intellectual staple. During 
Ecclesiasti- ^ e Middle Ages, the clergy was the one intel- 
cal control lectual class and theology the most important 
subject of study. The Renaissance broke up the 
educational monopoly of the Church by spreading the ideal 
of education for the laity, and by giving the classics a 
prominent place in the curriculum. Children of the wealthy 
classes now received instruction mainly through private 
schools or private teachers. But ecclesiastical influence still 
predominated, for the reason that the teachers were mostly 
clergymen, and the schools under church control. Freedom 
of thought was everywhere limited, and books had to run 
a double gantlet, the censorship of the Church and that of 
the State. It became almost impossible to print legally a 
book criticizing the conduct of affairs, and clever subter- 
fuges were resorted to in order to bring a publication before 
the reading public. The great majority of people could 
neither read nor write, and therefore remained oblivious to 
the few currents of thought that were permitted to flow. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

The Economic System 

The methods of industrial production up to the end of 
the eighteenth century were largely what they had been 
from the earliest days of civilization. Ham- „,, 

/ 1 he manor 

murabi, Pericles, Julius Caesar, or Charlemagne 
would have been quite at home in the social and economic 
Europe of Louis XIV, Frederick the Great, and George III. 
People lived mainly from the land, which was possessed by 
a few wealthy nobles and cultivated by many poor peasants. 
The estate of a noble was subdivided into small farms, which 
were worked by generation after generation of wretched 
farmers who were generally serfs, bound to the soil and 
forming, like the land itself, a part of the lord's property. 
If, as in France, the lord of the manor could not freely fine, 
imprison, or flog the peasant or hold him as chattel upon his 
estate, as he could in most of Germany, he yet exacted 
onerous dues and services from his tenants for the privilege 
of allowing them to gain a wretched livelihood from the 
soil. A part of what they produced, from eggs to bushels of 
wheat, had to be given to the lord. They might also have 
to work for him from one to three days a week without pay, 
to attend on him during the hunting season, and to wait on 
his guests when a festival was given at the castle. Special 
monopolies generally existed on the estates; and the peasant 
had to grind his wheat at the lord's mill, to bake his bread 
in the lord's oven, and to press his grapes at the lord's wine- 
press, all at a price fixed by his master. He likewise had to 
pay tolls for passing a bridge, for crossing a stream, or for 
driving on the highway. 1 To sum up, the feudal social sys- 
tem, so far as it affected the mass of common people, was 
still a living fact in Europe at the end of the eighteenth 
century. 

The craftsmen and merchants in the towns continued to 
be organized according to the medieval guild system. Each 

1 In England this system had long before broken down. Serfdom had 
entirely disappeared, and the farmers had become tenants who paid a fixed 
sum to the lord as rent for their farms. 



6 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

trade had its own organization, or guild, which regulated 
the quantity and quality of the article produced, 
the conditions of labor, and the number of work- 
men to be employed. To learn a trade, a boy was appren- 
ticed for a number of years, often as many as seven, to a 
master workman at whose house he lived and at whose shop 
he worked; later he became a "journeyman," or independ- 
ent workman, and sometimes, though rarely, a master or 
member of the guild, which entitled him to open a shop of 
his own. The guilds were industrial monopolies chartered 
by the Government, which undertook to give legal sanction 
to their rules. 

Commerce had made enormous strides as a result of the 
discoveries by the bold navigators of the sixteenth century. 
The mer- Trade was no longer merely intertown, as in 
chants t ] ie Middle Ages, but had become international. 

London, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Lisbon were great ports; 
their docks were crowded with shipping from America, 
Africa, and Asia. But compared with modern commerce, 
the volume of trade at the end of the eighteenth century 
was not very large. It was chiefly in the raw products of the 
new countries or in the luxuries of the East. The merchants 
of the towns, like the craftsmen, were organized into asso- 
ciations, but they allowed far more initiative than the craft 
guilds and, partly for that reason, greater prosperity at- 
tended them. Large commercial companies were sometimes 
given the exclusive privilege by the Government to trade 
with a specified country; for example, the English East 
India Company had a monopoly of the English trade with 
India. During the eighteenth century a wealthy and influ- 
ential class of merchants had developed in the towns, the 
middle class of England, the Burger of Germany, and the 
bourgeoisie of France. As long as the masses were scattered 
in hamlets, they were incapable of organization. As long 
as they were ignorant, they were silent. What then had 
the organized powers, the monarchy, the nobility, and the 
Church, to fear? 



INTRODUCTION 7 

The Intellectual Revolution 

If conditions and ideals at the end of the eighteenth 
century were still largely medieval, the advanced thought 
of the day was distinctly modern, not only in TT , . 

1 -i t , , , Voltaire 

tendency, but even in substance. It has seldom 
happened that great thinkers were so completely out of 
joint with their time as was the case with the eighteenth- 
century philosophers and scientists; and they began an 
attack on the old system which was unparalleled for audac- 
ity, virulence, and uncompromising radicalism. The lead- 
ing spirit in the war against the ancien regime was Voltaire, 
the famous French philosopher, poet, and historian. His 
main idea was that progress and enlightenment could come 
only when man exercised his reason untrammeled, and 
allowed his mind full play on all problems of life. Vol- 
taire singled out the Church as the special object of his 
attack because she, more than any other institution, was 
the special conserver of tradition. Never had the Church 
encountered so bitter an enemy, who mocked irreverently 
at her most sacred mysteries, who questioned her every 
right and privilege, and who would be satisfied with nothing 
less than her complete destruction. Few men have done 
more to undermine the authority of the Catholic Church 
than Voltaire, whose weapon was a biting satire expressed 
with marvelous literary art. 

The attack on the State was led by Montesquieu and 
Rousseau. The former was quite moderate in his criticism 
of monarchy ; he wished merely to see established The attack 
in France the constitutional system of England, on the State 
which he greatly admired. It was Rousseau who proclaimed 
ideas that threatened to undermine the very foundations of 
the old political system by questioning every reason for its 
existence. His famous treatise, The Social Contract, sub- 
stituted the doctrine of popular sovereignty for that of 
divine right, and laid the theoretical basis of modern 
democracy. The new science of Political Economy was 
founded by Quesnay and Turgot in France and by Adam 



8 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Smith in England. People now began to think of their 
environment from the economic point of view, and to iden- 
tify progress with material well-being; hitherto, progress 
had meant only religious, moral, and intellectual enlight- 
enment. The economists bitterly attacked the iniquitous 
system of taxation then in vogue and the medieval regula- 
tion of commerce and industry which hindered improved 
production. The ideas of the philosophers and of the econo- 
mists were widely spread by Diderot in his famous encyclo- 
pedia, which became the arsenal of knowledge from which 
were drawn the weapons to attack the old system. 

The period was prolific in other new sciences. Lavoisier 
laid the basis of modern chemistry by his successful experi- 
Advance of men ts in decomposing air and water and by his 
science and analysis of combustion. Lamarck's theory as 
p i osop y ^ o t ^ e evo i ut j on Q f bodily organs made him one 

of the founders of modern biology. Kant's philosophy 
enthroned moral law as the supreme governor of the uni- 
verse and substituted an ethical for a religious view of the 
world. Lessing and Goethe completely rejected medieval- 
ism, which then so largely dominated German ideals, and 
replaced it by a modern outlook upon life. 

The French Revolution 

The French Revolution was more than a single movement 
in the history of France or of Europe. It was not merely 
T . a political reconstruction in which despotisms 

Importance ^ t ^ > 

of the French were overthrown and nations liberated; it was 

Revolution i * • i • j < i ■, • i 

as well a social, economic, and moral epoch, which 
formulated the principles and, together with the Intel- 
lectual and Industrial Revolutions, prepared the conditions 
of modern society. It may, therefore, be truly said that the 
Modern Age begins with this great upheaval which spread 
from France to all the countries of Western Europe. Revo- 
lutions had happened before in history. The "Glorious 
Revolution" of 1689 m England resulted in the establish-' 
ment of parliamentary government. This was an important 
change, but the benefits derived from it by the mass of 



INTRODUCTION 9 

English people at the time were very slight; one dynasty 
displaced another, but the same class, the landed aristoc- 
racy, continued to control the government of England in 
its own interest. The English Revolution was, therefore, 
purely a political one, the good results of which did not 
mature till the end of the nineteenth century, when univer- 
sal suffrage was established. The American Revolution of 
1776 was also mainly political. It merely shifted supreme 
allegiance from the British Crown to the Constitution 
of the United States; everything else, property, law, reli- 
gion, education, remained as before. Quite different, how- 
ever, from both the English and the American was the 
French Revolution. That momentous event changed the 
fortunes of almost every institution in the land ; for profound 
and lasting organic changes were effected, fully or partially, 
in almost every department of human life, social, economic, 
political, religious, legal, educational, and geographical. 

The immediate cause of the French Revolution was the 
financial difficulties of the Government. In order to raise 
more money, the King summoned the Estates- The calling 
General, which met on May 5, 1789. Under the Estates- 
leadership of the famous statesman and orator, General 
Mirabeau, it transformed itself into the National Assembly, 
a one-chamber parliament with almost absolute legislative 
and constitutional powers. 

The National Assembly then set to work regenerating 
France by abolishing the abuses and privileges of the 
ancien regime. Paris and the other cities of Abolition of 
France were organized as self-governing muni- feudallsm 
cipalities. On the famous night of August 4-5, 1789, the 
National Assembly completely abolished economic feudal- 
ism with its onerous dues and services. It also decreed 
that "taxes shall be collected from all citizens and from all 
property." France was then unified by the abolition of the 
old provinces, with their special privileges, customs, and 
laws; and the country was redivided into new political 
units called departements . 

A notable document was then issued known as the 



io MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

■' Declaration of the Rights of Man," which is to the French 
The Decla- what the Magna Charta is to the English and 
Rights of 6 wna t the Declaration of Independence is to 
Man Americans. It boldly proclaimed the doctrines 

that all men are born and remain equal in rights, that law 
is the expression of the popular will, and that the people 
instead of the king are sovereign. It also declared for free- 
dom of speech and of religion, and prohibited imprisonment 
without trial. 

On November 2, 1789, the National Assembly confiscated 
the enormous estates belonging to the Catholic Church. It 
The Civil then passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, 
of°t n he itUtion according to which Catholicism was established 
Clergy a s the national religion, and the priests were paid 

salaries from the public treasury. This law aroused the 
bitter opposition of all loyal Catholics, who regarded it as 
an attack on their faith, because it required that the priests 
should be elected by all citizens irrespective of their 
religion. 

' Finally, in 1791, the National Assembly adopted a con- 
stitution which provided for a Legislative Assembly, a 
Th . parliament of one house to be elected indirectly 

tution of by those citizens who had sufficient property to 
pay a tax equal to three days' labor. To the 
King was given full executive power. 

These great and, on the whole, beneficent changes were 
accomplished with comparative quietness within the short 
The space of two years. But they aroused the power- 

emigres f u j opposition of the King, nobles, and clergy, 

who had been deprived of their privileges. Unfortunately, 
King Louis XVI threw in his lot with the unpopular privi- 
leged classes, and appealed to the monarchs of other coun- 
tries to restore the ancien regime. This gave birth to a 
republican sentiment which was fanned into flame by the 
extreme revolutionists. The nobility, especially, aroused the 
most violent hatred among the people, because they emi- 
grated from France and sought to organize armies against 
their own country. A law was passed which confiscated 



INTRODUCTION n 

the property of all emigres who failed to return by a cer- 
tain date. These lands, together with the confiscated church 
property, were sold to peasant and middle-class people, who 
now had a property interest in the Revolution. 

The King of Prussia was the first to champion the cause 
of Louis XVI, and a Prussian army was sent to invade 
France, which aroused among the French people a republic 
the greatest enthusiasm for the cause of liberty P roclaime <i 
and the most bitter hatred of monarchy in all forms and in 
all places. On September 21, 1792, Louis XVI was de- 
throned and a republic was proclaimed. War was then 
declared against the enemies of the Republic, the royalists 
within and the despots without. Violent attacks were made 
by the Paris mob on the royalists, which culminated in the 
September Massacre, in which about three thousand per- 
sons were brutally murdered. 

When the National Assembly was transforming France 
into a modern nation, it did not occur to people at the time 
that the innovations of those momentous years Wa rof 
would spread beyond the borders of the land France with 
which made them. But Europe was uneasy, and irope 
with good reason. It was feared that the example set by 
the French people would be followed by the oppressed of 
other lands. Hence the wars, inaugurated by the despots 
to restore Louis XVI to his former power, were really 
struggles between two hostile social systems which could 
not exist side by side: that of France was modern, that of 
the rest of Europe, medieval. And such a war knows no 
truce. France soon realized that, in order to preserve the 
fruits of her Revolution, she would have to modernize the 
rest of Europe; and so began the Republican Propaganda, 
or the invasion by republican armies into monarchical coun- 
tries. The French Revolution had, of necessity and of 
logic, become international. 

The armies of Prussia and Austria were defeated and 
driven back by the revolutionary soldiers of the The Con- 
Republic, who showed the most extraordinary ventl0n 
energy and enthusiasm for the cause of Liberty, Equality, 



12 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

and Fraternity. Foreign monarchs were now frightened 
at what seemed to them the outburst of universal anarchy. 
A grand alliance of nearly every nation of Europe was formed 
with the object of suppressing the Republic. In France the 
Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and a new body, the 
Convention, was called to frame a new constitution. But 
the safety of the country being the most pressing question, 
a Committee of Public Safety of twelve members was ap- 
pointed in April, 1793, with full dictatorial power. It was 
controlled by the Jacobins, the most radical and daring 
of the revolutionaries, led by Danton, Robespierre, and 
Saint-Just. 

The Committee, backed by the Paris mob, instituted the 
Reign of Terror. Their main object was to unify France 
The Reign against the allied despots by terrorizing all those 
of Terror w j 10 opposed their plans. Any one suspected of 
ever so slight a hostility to the Revolution was immediately 
brought before a court called the Revolutionary Tribunal, 
where he was speedily condemned and executed by the 
guillotine. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette 
were accused of conspiring with the foreign despots and ex- 
ecuted for treason. The Girondins, a moderate republican 
party, who were opposed to the domination of France by 
Paris, were driven out of the Convention. Revolts by the 
royalist peasants of La Vendee and by the citizens of Lyons 
were mercilessly crushed. Having unified France through 
terror, the Jacobins turned on the Allied armies and won 
several decisive victories. The Terror had succeeded in 
saving France from invasion, but was itself overthrown in 
1794; the Convention was recalled and set to work to 
frame a constitution for the Republic. 

The new constitution provided for a Directory of five 
men to be chosen by a parliament composed of two houses, 
The the Council of Five Hundred and the Council 

Directory Q r £i^ ers -p^g Directory, as the new Govern- 
ment was called, continued the Republican Propaganda 
by despatching armies to war against the monarchies of 
Europe. General Napoleon Bonaparte, in command of the 



INTRODUCTION 13 

army to invade Italy, won a series of notable victories 
which made him exceedingly popular. Unfortunately for 
the Directory, the other French armies were beaten, and 
the Government lost favor with the people. Fear of inva- 
sion by the Allies turned popular sentiment toward General 
Bonaparte as the only man able to defend France success- 
fully. The latter, already ambitious to become Emperor, 
seized the moment to oust the Directory from power by 
the coup d'etat of the Eighteenth Brumaire (November 9, 
1799). Bonaparte then became First Consul with almost 
dictatorial power, and continued the war against the 
Allies, upon whom he inflicted severe defeats. A general 
peace followed in 1801, in which the boundaries of France 
were extended to the Rhine. 

The internal reforms of the First Consul were among 
his more enduring contributions. He put the sadly dis- 
organized finances on a sound basis and vigor- The Con- 
ously enforced the law in the collection of taxes. sulate 
In 1 801 he issued the famous Concordat, or treaty of France 
with the Pope, which reestablished Catholicism as the 
national religion, but under the control of the State, which 
shared with the Pope in the power to appoint bishops. 
Bonaparte's greatest achievement was the enlightened 
Napoleonic Code of laws based upon the principles of the 
French Revolution. This he issued during his consulate. 
He also reorganized the administrative and educational 
systems of France, greatly centralizing them. 

The First Consul was monarch in all but name, and it 
was tnerefore only a short step for the Senate to establish a 
monarchy, which it did, in 1804, by conferring N . 
upon him the title of Napoleon I, Emperor of becomes 
the French. In this way the Republic came to m P eror 
an end, but the great reforms accomplished by the French 
Revolution were not set at naught; on the contrary, Na- 
poleon did all he could to strengthen and to spread them. 



14 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The First Empire 

The Napoleonic regime was a despotism of the most ar- 
bitrary kind ; but it was enlightened and progressive, and 
r, , therefore received the enthusiastic support of 

Conquest of ^^ 

Western the French people. Unfortunately for the peace 
urope of the world, Napoleon dreamed of consolidating 

Western Europe into one political organization with him- 
self as master. The various nations, frightened at the pros- 
pect of becoming mere provinces, were at first too crushed 
by defeats to think of vigorous opposition to his designs. 
England alone was able and willing to engage the Emperor 
in mortal combat. She defeated the French at sea and 
therefore did not fear for her colonial empire; but she was 
apprehensive of losing her great trade through the imposi- 
tion of hostile tariffs on English goods by the French. To 
her aid came Russia and Austria. In the most brilliant 
victory of his career, that of Austerlitz in 1805, Napoleon 
practically destroyed the combined Austrian and Russian 
forces. This victory was followed by a reorganization of 
Germany: the Holy Roman Empire was abolished and 
Western Germany consolidated into the Confederation of 
the Rhine under the protection of France. In 1806 Prussia 
was forced into a war by Napoleon and was terribly beaten 
at the battle of Jena, which resulted in her being almost 
entirely dismembered. Against England the only weapon 
he could employ was economic. By the Berlin and Milan 
decrees, Napoleon declared the British Isles in a state of 
blockade, and forbade the nations on the Continent to 
trade with the English. Napoleon's "Continental System," 
as it was called, failed utterly, because he had no fleet with 
which to enforce it. Hence the only hope of Europe's deliv- 
erance from the Napoleonic despotism lay in England's 
control of the seas. 

A glance at the map of Europe in 1810 reveals the start- 
Napoleon ling fact that there were then only three really 
Condnen^al independent nations, France, England, and Rus- 
Europe sia. The French Empire extended from the 



INTRODUCTION 15 

Baltic sea to the Bay of Naples; Spain was conquered and 
ruled by Napoleon's brother, Joseph; Southern Italy was 
governed by his marshal and brother-in-law, Murat, as 
King of Naples; Western Germany was, as we have seen, 
a French protectorate; Austria and Prussia, beaten and 
almost annihilated, were subject to Napoleon's dictation. 

Yet this wonderful empire was built on unstable founda- 
tions. It had been put together in a short time by the genius 
of one man, and therefore depended too much TT . . 

^ Uprising 

upon him alone for its existence. In spite of the against . : 
fact that Napoleon brought to the conquered a P° eon 
peoples the blessings of enlightened and efficient govern- 
ment, nevertheless, a spirit of nationalism, the desire of each 
people to live its own life in its own way, was rapidly grow- 
ing and was bound to be his undoing. In Spain a popular 
uprising took place, and his armies were driven out of the 
country. Prussia's great national awakening brought about 
the regeneration of her political and economic systems. The 
disastrous Russian campaign in 1812 was a signal for the 
uprising of the peoples in the Empire, and Napoleon was 
badly beaten at the Battle of Leipzig, in 1813. He was 
deposed and banished to the island of Elba; he escaped, 
and again made war on the Allies. Again he was defeated, 
this time at Waterloo, in 181 5. The great conqueror was 
captured and banished to the island of St. Helena, where he 
died on May 5, 1821. 

The Heritage of the French Revolution 

The heritage that the French Revolution gave to the 
world was of incalculable importance for the progress of 
mankind. It introduced a dynamic element into society 
by showing that it was possible to accelerate the rate of 
progress and, by so doing, to hasten the ripening of history. 
Unfortunately, much of the good accomplished was marred 
by violence and bloodshed, so that the word "revolution" 
has acquired a sinister meaning. Now that universal suf- 
frage is established, peaceful revolutions, by way of elec- 
tions, take place periodically in almost every country. 



16 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Violent methods are, therefore, discountenanced by all 
people who desire to see progress made in an orderly man- 
ner ; for only by peaceful means are necessary changes made 
permanent in democratic communities. Political democracy, 
in royal or republican form, was another contribution of the 
French Revolution. The absolute monarch became the 
"chief executive" of the State, and the doctrine of divine 
right was repudiated both in theory and in practice. Along 
with democracy came a new conception of nationality, 
namely, the "people-nation." Hitherto, the king and the 
State had been identical; now, another sovereign, the peo- 
ple, was enthroned ; and for that reason a new national flag 
was adopted. The destruction of economic feudalism raised 
the status of the peasantry and elevated the middle classes 
to power. From one point of view, the French Revolution 
may be regarded as a struggle for the control of the Govern- 
ment between the nobility and clergy on the one side and 
the middle classes and peasants on the other. Progress, 
political, social, and intellectual, became the battle-cry of 
the partisans of the Revolution everywhere in Europe, 
and the revolutionary spirit found expression in a new 
literature of protest. Hugo and Lamartine in France, 
Byron and Shelley in England, and Heine in Germany, 
voiced the discontent of the millions who longed to make the 
world a better place in which to live. Literature had 
become touched with politics and economics. The revolu- 
tionary doctrine that France gave to the world was to bear 
fruit in the uprisings of 1830 and 1848, which resulted in the 
establishment of democratic government in nearly every 
country of Europe. 



CHAPTER II 

THE RESTORATION AND REACTION 
The Congress of Vienna 

The great European empire established by the military 
and diplomatic genius of Napoleon collapsed the moment 
his strong arm was no longer there to maintain ~ 

° ° e Organiza- 

it. After the Emperor's downfall, a great in- tion of the 
ternational convention was called at Vienna to 
settle the conflicting claims of dynasties and nations to 
the parts of the Napoleonic structure. This Congress of 
Vienna, as it was called, sat from September 14, 18 14, to 
June 15, 1 81 5, and contained representatives from every 
nation in Europe except Turkey. It counted among its 
delegates many of the distinguished monarchs and states- 
men of the day, including the Emperors of Austria and 
Russia, the Kings of Prussia and Bavaria, Stein, Harden- 
berg, Von Humboldt, the Duke of Wellington, Metternich, 
and Talleyrand. The Congress was not a deliberative body 
with power to issue decrees and resolutions binding upon 
the nations; it was, rather, a convenient meeting-place for 
the princes and statesmen of Europe where they were 
able to make treaties with one another and to agree about 
general policies. Even before the Congress had met, Eng- 
land, Austria, Russia, and Prussia had come to an agree- 
ment as to the line of policy they were to pursue. 

The Congress, in partitioning the Napoleonic empire, 
paid more regard to dynastic than to national claims. It 
refused to recognize the principle of nationalism. Disregard of 
Instead, it asserted the doctrine of "legitimacy," nationalism 
or the prior right of the old dynasties to govern their former 
subjects, irrespective of the wishes of the latter or of the 
claims of the monarchs set up by Napoleon. 

Holland was restored to the House of Orange, and to 
it was added the Austrian Netherlands, now known as 



18 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Belgium, the majority of whose inhabitants differed in 
Restoration blood, speech, religion, and traditions from the 
former St ° Dutch. Norway, contrary to her desires, was 
rulers taken away from Denmark and given to Sweden, 

although the Napoleonic king, Bernadotte, was retained 
as King of Sweden because of his faithfulness to the cause 
of the Allies. Russia was allowed to retain Finland and 
Bessarabia, and received, in addition, the largest part of 
the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, formerly part of the now 
extinct Kingdom of Poland, Switzerland was permitted to 
continue as a federal republic, and was "neutralized"; 
i.e., the Great Powers guaranteed her neutrality by promis- 
ing never to declare war against her or to send troops across 
her borders. England, not desiring any territory on the 
continent of Europe, received as her recompense Helgo- 
land, Malta, Trinidad, Ceylon, and Cape Colony. To Spain 
was restored merely her former dynasty. Austria, on the 
contrary, made great gains in territory. To her were restored 
her Polish provinces, and she was given the Illyrian lands 
along the Adriatic coast; Lombardy-Venetia, the two rich- 
est provinces in Italy, were added as a compensation for 
her loss of the Austrian Netherlands. Austria's population 
was now enlarged by about five millions, but it had become 
more heterogeneous than ever, for there were now several 
millions of dissatisfied, rebellious Italians among the many 
races in her dominions. 

Two "geographic expressions," Germany and Italy, 
issued from the Congress. A crowd of exiled German 
„ princelings came to Vienna demanding to be 

Germany r ° . ■ . . ,t U 

restored on the ground of legitimacy. But 
the influence of the larger states like Prussia, Bavaria, and 
Wurttemberg, which had profited by the suppression of their 
small neighbors, was too powerful for them; and for that 
reason the great consolidation effected in- Germany by 
Napoleon was allowed to remain virtually undisturbed. 
Instead of the Holy Roman Empire, with its hundreds of 
tiny states, there was now organized the German Confed- 
eration consisting of only thirty-eight states. This union 



THE RESTORATION AND REACTION 19 

did not create a United Germany at all, as the bond between 
the members was very loose. Each state possessed almost 
complete sovereignty, with its own tariff, its. own system 
of coinage, its own army, with power to make war and alli- 
ances with whomsoever it pleased, and in general to con- 
duct itself like an independent nation. The only bond of 
union was the Diet at Frankfort, representing all the states 
in the Confederation, which met to decide only on general 
policies. Loose as it was, the Confederation was, never- 
theless, an important step in the history of German unity. 
Prussia, which had all but disappeared from the map of 
Europe as a result of her defeat by Napoleon, was now 
considerably strengthened. She recovered her former terri- 
tory, and in addition received one half of Saxony as well 
as lands along the Rhine. The inclusion of Prussia and 
Austria in the Confederation accentuated the rivalry be- 
tween them for the leadership of the German people, which 
was to have important consequences later. 

That other "geographical expression," Italy, fared badly 
at the hands of the Congress. The country was once more 
broken up into petty states, and the exiled 
rulers were restored to their thrones. In the 
South was erected the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which 
included the island of Sicily and the mainland called Naples; 
the States of the Church were once more put under the 
rule of the Pope; the Duchies of Parma and Modena and 
the Grand Duchy of Tuscany were reestablished. In the 
North, the Kingdom of Sardinia, consisting of the island 
of Sardinia and the mainland, called Piedmont, was restored 
and enlarged by the addition of the former Republic of 
Genoa. As we have just seen, Lombardy-Venetia were an- 
nexed to Austria. 1 This introduction of a foreign element 
into Italian affairs was still further to complicate the prob- 
lem of unifying the country. 

France escaped with her national life at the cost of her 
empire. She shrank to her former size, the vast territory 

1 Altogether there were ten Italian states, the seven mentioned above and 
three tiny ones, Lucca, San Marino, and Monaco. 



20 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

conquered by Napoleon being shorn away from her by the 
Congress without the least compunction. She. 
was, moreover, forced to pay a heavy indemnity, 
and her territory was occupied for three years by an army 
of the Allies. There persisted a haunting fear in Europe that 
the Napoleonic exploits might some day be repeated, and 
for this reason France's neighbors, Holland, Prussia, and 
Austria, were strengthened that they might act as a bul- 
wark against future aggression. What remained to France 
of the First Empire was a glorious memory of military vic- 
tories unmatched in the history of former times. 

Suppression of Liberalism 

The restoration of the exiled monarchs to the thrones of 
their ancestors was at the same time a restoration of the 
Restoratio ideals of government for which they stood. Abso- 
ofabso- lute monarchy based upon "divine right" was 

reestablished; and union between throne and 
altar was the constant care of those who desired a state 
of things in which democracy should play no part. The 
great problem that confronted the statesmen of the Resto- 
ration was how to prevent the order established by the 
Congress of Vienna from being destroyed by revolutionary 
outbreaks. France, especially, as the home of revolution, 
needed careful watching. A coalition of great Powers, 
known as the Quadruple Alliance, composed of Russia, 
Austria, Prussia, and England, 1 was organized, in 1815, for 
the purpose of preserving the "tranquillity of Europe." It 
was to meet every year to hold a sort of political inquest 
on the state of Europe, to suppress rebellions, and to advise 
on the best means of preventing the spread of democratic 
ideas. The moving spirit of this league to enforce autocracy 
was the Austrian, Prince Metternich, who was firmly con- 
vinced that the only way to fight revolutionary movements 
which, owing to the French Revolution, had become inter- 
national, was by a compact of the despots pledged to sup- 

1 England later withdrew from the Alliance because her policies in this and 
other matters diverged from those of her allies. 



THE RESTORATION AND REACTION 21 

port one other in case of an uprising. If revolution was 
to be international, so would be repression. Because of this, 
Metternich developed his theory of ' ' intervention ' ' : namely, 
that Europe was a social and political unit with a uniform 
system of government and society ; hence an attack on any 
part of it would be fatal to the whole unless defended by 
the whole. International congresses were held at Aix-la- 
Chapelle in 181 8, at Troppau in 1820, and at Laibach in 
1 82 1, where the principle of "intervention" was adopted 
by the powers. The Congress of Laibach was directly 
instrumental in restoring the tyrannical King Ferdinand of 
Naples. 1 Because of its activity in suppressing revolutions, 
the Quadruple Alliance, or, as it was generally called, the 
Holy Alliance, earned the bitter hatred of the European 
liberals. 

To physical force, which is never of itself sufficient to 
stamp out ideas, was added intellectual repression. A 
well-organized system of espionage and censor- intellectual 
ship was established in every country, especially repression 
in Germany and in Italy, where despotism had never been 
seriously challenged. Public meetings were forbidden, the 
right of association and freedom of speech strictly limited, 
and the press vigorously censored. The democratic move- 
ment was, as a consequence, driven underground; secret 
societies were formed, like the Burschenschaften in Ger- 
many and the Carbonari in Italy, to combat by agitation, 
and even by force, the repressive Governments of the time. 

The political spokesman of the new generation was Cle- 
ment, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg-Ochsenhausen, the 
famous Austrian statesman, commonly known . , 

as Prince Metternich, who was the leading fig- 
ure of the Congress of Vienna, and who became the master 
spirit of the Restoration period. As a diplomat, he dictated 
international policies for a generation; as a statesman, his 
advice was eagerly sought by the restored princes to whom 
he became a guide, philosopher, and friend. Metternich 
was the consistent foe of democracy in every form whatso- 

1 See p. 200. 



22 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ever; and the system established by the Congress of Vienna 
was to him almost the last word in political wisdom. He 
set his face like flint against suggestions of change of any 
sort. Reformers should be reduced to silence, as "conces- 
sion will not satisfy but only embolden them in their pre- 
tensions to power," he declared. The sum of all evil is re- 
volution, " a hydra with open jaws to swallow the social 
order." Liberty was a malady of which the people must 
be cured if social health was to continue. Parliamentary 
government was a "perpetual somersault," which led to a 
lack of responsibility in both rulers and ruled. Metternich 
was quite sincerely convinced that an orderly civilization 
could not exist without a system of absolute monarchy 
dominated by religious motives. He advised the princes 
to "maintain religious principles in all their purity, and 
not to allow the faith to be attacked and morality to be 
interpreted according to the social contract or according to 
the visions of foolish sectarians." Like many others of 
his day, he had been frightened by the violence of the 
Reign of Terror, and so had confused democracy with terror- 
ism, and even with anarchy. He did not and could not 
see the great good which the French Revolution had ac- 
complished, for the reason that he was, above all, a states- 
man of the status quo, or things as they are. So conscious 
was Metternich of his own importance that he believed 
himself chosen of God to guide the destinies of Europe. He 
became the mirror of diplomacy of the reactionary period 
which followed the downfall of Napoleon, a devoted serv- 
ant of the despots, a master of subtle and secret intrigue, 
and an adroit manipulator of the State in the interest of 
the aristocratic class to which he belonged. 

The Holy Alliance 

A spirit of religious conservatism characterized the 
Restoration period. The rationalistic philosophy of the 
Religious eighteenth century, with its disbelief in revealed 
revival religion, was now relegated to the background 

by a revival of religious enthusiasm which found expression 



THE RESTORATION AND REACTION 23 

both in literature and in politics. Chateaubriand's great 
work, The Genius of Christianity, is a most eloquent tribute, 
by a distinguished French writer, to the ideals of the 
Christian faith and to its influence on character and civili- 
zation. In Joseph de Maistre's book, The Pope, the medieval 
ideal of the supremacy of the Church in all matters, tem- 
poral as well as spiritual, is advocated with great ability 
and learning. 

But the most remarkable expression of the religious re- 
vival was the formation, on September 26, 181 5, of the 
Holy Alliance, composed of the monarchs of The Holy 
Russia, Austria, and Prussia. These princes Alliance 
issued a manifesto to an astonished world, in which they 
declared their belief in the "solemn Truths taught by the 
religion of God, our Saviour," and pledged themselves "to 
take for their sole guide the precepts of that Holy Reli- 
gion, namely, the precepts of Justice, Christian Charity, 
and Peace," which, they asserted, could remedy all hu- 
man imperfections. It was their intention, they solemnly 
averred, to be fathers to their subjects, who were urged 
"to strengthen themselves every day more and more in 
the principles and exercise of the duties which the Divine 
Saviour taught to Mankind." They also pledged them- 
selves to assist one another in maintaining the ideas con- 
tained in the manifesto. This document was inspired by 
Tsar. Alexander I of Russia, who was greatly influenced by 
a religious mystic named Madame de Kriidener. A chorus 
of criticism and ridicule greeted its publication. It was va- 
riously described as "a sonorous nothing" and as a "sub- 
lime piece of mysticism and nonsense." To many liber- 
als, the Holy Alliance came to signify a combination of 
despots who were plotting to suppress democratic move- 
ments under cover of religion. As the leading members of 
the Holy Alliance were the same as those of the Quadruple 
Alliance, the latter has often been confused with the former. 
The Holy Alliance may be regarded not as a treaty between 
the Great Powers, but rather as an expression of the state 
of mind of the rulers of Europe regarding the great problems 



24 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

raised by the French Revolution. Once more benevolent 
despotism prepared to make democracy undesirable by 
making it needless. 

At best, the Europe of the Restoration was but a phan- 
tom of its former self. Many of the changes inaugurated 
Failure of ^y ^e French Revolution and by Napoleon 
the Resto- could not be abolished without a violent wrench 
of the entire social system, and so were allowed 
to remain. The Holy Roman Empire was gone, feudalism 
was gone, and gone was the old authority of the Church. 
If absolute monarchy did return, it should do so without pop- 
ular endorsement, for the doctrine of " divine right' 1 was 
now being preached to unwilling ears. The generation that 
had seen so many kings hurled from their thrones during 
the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods found it diffi- 
cult to believe in a divine sanction of governments that 
could be so easily overturned. Absolute monarchy, feared 
for ages as all-powerful, had but to show its weakness 
to become ridiculous. Although Napoleon had preached 
"divine right," he did more to discredit the doctrine than 
even the French Revolution. For the first time, mankind 
saw in the bright light of the nineteenth century how kings 
were made and unmade by force of arms. And now that its 
moral authority was gone, absolutism could maintain itself 
only by resorting to brute force. Sullen obedience had suc- 
ceeded loyal devotion among the masses of Europe. 



CHAPTER III 
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 

It requires a great deal of effort to imagine our present 
world, with its factories, railroads, steamboats, telegraphs, 
and telephones, as having been at any time different from 
what it is to-day. Yet all these wonderful things are but 
a century old, and. the product of that great change in 
human affairs known as the "Industrial Revolution." 

The term "revolution" is generally applied to a popular 
uprising that is characterized by violence of speech and ac- 
tion, and which aims to bring about changes ben- Importance 
eficial to mankind. During the Industrial Revo- dustrial"" 
lution no speeches were made, no conventions Revolution 
were held, no battles were fought ! Nevertheless, this silent 
revolution, by altering radically the conditions of life for 
millions of human beings, may be truly regarded as the 
greatest of all revolutions in history, and as marking the 
end of the civilization of the past and the beginning of the 
civilization of the present and of the future. "It was a 
revolution," says a recent writer, "which has completely 
changed the face of modern Europe and of the new world, 
for it introduced a new race of men — the men who work 
with machinery instead of with their hands, who cluster 
together in cities instead of spreading over the land in 
villages and hamlets; the men who trade with those of 
other nations as readily as with those of their own town; 
the men whose workshops are moved by the great forces of 
nature instead of the human hand, and whose market is no 
longer the city or the country, but the world itself." l 

It was in England at the close of the eighteenth century 
that this most wonderful of all changes originated. That 
is why it is essential that we confine ourselves mainly to 
England in studying the Industrial Revolution, just as it is 

1 H. deB. Gibbins, Economic and Industrial Progress, p. 3. 



26 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

necessary to study Germany in relation to the Protestant 
Revolution, and France in relation to the French Revolu- 
tion. The presence of great deposits of coal and iron, the 
Reasons for accumulation of capital seeking investment, the 
its origin existence of a fine merchant marine ready to 
-ngan transport great quantities of goods, the sudden 
increase in the supply of labor due to the Agricultural 
Revolution, l — all these combined to stimulate the practical 
character of English genius, and the result was the aston- 
ishing series of inventions by Englishmen which ushered 
in the Industrial Revolution. 

The Domestic System 

Next to food, the production of cloth is the most impor- 
tant factor in human existence. Before the advent of 
machinery, the process of converting the raw materials, 
wool, cotton, or flax, into cloth was quite simple. In the 
first place, the raw material was cleansed and "carded" or 
combed, in order to convert the knotted mass into straight- 
How thread ene d fibers for easy manipulation. The fibers 
was for- were then fastened to a stick which was attached 
to a simple machine called a spinning-wheel, which 
consisted of a wheel and spindle worked by a treadle. As 
the wheel revolved, it drew out of the mass attached to the 
distaff a fine, strong thread. A still more primitive method 
of obtaining thread was by the use of a hand "spindle," 
or stick, with a hook at one end with which the thread was 
drawn out from the mass of raw material on a distaff. 

The weaving of thread into cloth was done by means of 
another simple contrivance, the hand-loom, which con- 
Hand-loom sisted of a frame made of wooden rollers. Hori- 
weavmg zontal threads, called the "warp," were attached 
to the frame, and vertical threads, called the "woof," were 
then inserted by means of the "shuttle" or knotched stick. 
The interlacing of the warp and the woof resulted in cloth, 
closely or loosely woven as one desired, ready to be made 
into garments by the tailor's art. 

1 See p. 55. 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 27 

The system of production, known as the "domestic" or 
"cottage system" because the work was done mainly at 
home, was as simple as the machinery itself. The domes- 
The artisan's home was also his shop. Under the tlc s y stem 
one roof the master's family and a few assistants carried 
on the various simple phases of spinning, weaving, dyeing, 
and bleaching. All the members of the household were 
employed, young children no less than the wife and do- 
mestics. The women did the spinning. So universal was 
the domestic system, and so closely were the women as- 
sociated with spinning, that a woman at the spinning-wheel 
became the symbol of home life. 1 The weaving was per- 
formed by the master and his assistants. The head of the 
house was at the same time the owner of the shop, the mas- 
ter artisan, and the one who secured the supply of raw 
material and who disposed of the finished product to his 
neighbor, the tailor, or at some fair. The "domestic sys- 
tem" prevailed in the making not only of cloth but of fin- 
ished articles of all kinds. 

Conditions under this system were simple in comparison 
with those in our modern industrial life. There was no 
overproduction, no great fluctuation of price, Conditions 
no panic, and no great unemployment, because "domestic * 
the goods made were staple articles for a lim- system" 
ited and definitely known market. Such luxuries as were 
in demand were importations from the East for the use 
of the wealthy few. What was manufactured was pro- 
duced neither at random nor for speculation but to supply 
the needs of the locality, and consequently trade was fairly 
regular. Furthermore, the artisan did not depend solely 
on his trade for a living; he supplemented it by farming on 
a small scale. He generally owned a plot of ground, a half 
dozen acres at most, to which he and his staff turned in 
seasons of diminished demand. If the "domestic system" 
rarely made for wealth, it as rarely brought utter destitu- 
tion. The security of the means of life for the master spelled 

1 The term "spinster," applied to an unmarried woman, originated in the 
fact that, having no children to take care of, she spun all her life. 



28 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

security for his dependents ; for the ownership of the means 
of production, the tools, by those who used them made 
the workingman a partner in the enterprise, and so insured 
a fair distribution of profit among the producers. Condi- 
tions of life for the laborers, although it was far from the 
happy state often pictured by old-fashioned admirers of 
the "domestic system," were yet in some respects far better 
than those under our present "factory system." 

In the production of cotton cloth a middleman had be- 
gun to appear, as raw cotton, unlike wool or linen, had to 
Appearance De i m P ort ed. The importer was generally a town 
of the capitalist, from whom the artisans obtained their 

middleman i tt i_ a. ±1. 

supply. Here was an approach to the present 
system of the separation of capital and labor; but even in 
this case the shop and tools were owned by those who made 
the cloth. Capital under the "domestic system" was too 
closely intertwined with labor to play the peculiar role that 
it does to-day. It was in commerce only, particularly in the 
chartered companies, that capitalists exerted a directing 
influence. The "domestic system" imposed fewer restric- 
tions on the freedom of enterprise than did the "guild 
system" which it had displaced in England; and in this 
freedom the capitalistic middleman found his opportunity. 
It may, therefore, be said that in the "domestic system" 
lay the germ of modern capitalism. 

Mechanical Inventions 

In England toward the close of the eighteenth century 
that series of mechanical inventions began to appear which 
True nature completely revolutionized the process of manu- 
of the ma- facture. To understand the true nature and 
function of a machine, we must remember that 
it is not merely a more dexterous tool to aid man in the pro- 
duction of goods; it is, more accurately speaking, a kind of 
non-human slave, tireless and nerveless, that is itself a pro- 
ducer. Man's part is perfunctory: to pull a lever, to push 
a button, or to turn a crank; the more automatic the ma- 
chine becomes, the less is there need of man's assistance. 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 29 

The machine, be its motive power wiijd, tide, water- 
fall, steam, or electricity, represents man's success in har- 
nessing nature to the service of humanity. Uses of 
Space and time are annihilated by the locomo- macmner y 
tive, the steamship, the telegraph, and the aeroplane; 
and the goods man uses for clothing and in the indus- 
tries are multiplied by nimble fingers of steel with unbe- 
lievable speed. The inventors were generally skilled ar- 
tisans or scientific experimenters whose work was in no 
sense entirely new. The heroic theory of invention, namely, 
that a new idea springs fully developed from the brain of 
one man, is, like all other heroic theories, a myth. The 
inventor is always a man who has perfected a process 
which others, as well as himself, have been experimenting 
with, studying, and investigating. 

The first of the inventions was Kay's "flying shuttle" 
( I 733)» which enabled a weaver to jerk the shuttle back and 
forth by means of a handle, thus increasing the Spinning- 
speed of operation. This, by making possible and weav- 

•j • u-' 1 *. j j j r ing-machines 

more rapid weaving, stimulated a demand lor 
more thread, and led to the invention (1765), by a clever 
weaver named James Hargreaves, of a spinning-machine 
known as the "spinning- jenny." It consisted of a simple 
wooden frame on which eight spindles revolved by the turn- 
ing of a wheel, and which produced eight threads at one time. 
The "spinning-jenny" was soon improved so that a child 
turning the wheel did the work of twenty spinners. 1 One in- 
vention stimulated another, and before long (1769) Richard 
Arkwright gave to the world his famous "water-frame," a 
series of revolving rollers, rotating at varying speeds, which 
spun cotton thread so firmly that an all-cotton cloth could 
now be made. Arkwright's device possessed another advan- 
tage : it was run by water-power instead of by hand or foot. 
In 1779 a new invention, known as Crompton's "mule," 
made its appearance. It combined the advantages of the 

1 At present a spinning-machine runs as many as one thousand spindles, each 
turning at the rate of ten thousand revolutions a minute; and it needs only one 
man and two boys to tend two thousand spindles. 



30 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

"spinning-jenny" with that of the "water-frame" so that 
thread could now be spun with greater rapidity. The in- 
creased production of thread called for more rapid methods 
of weaving. This demand was met by Cartwright's "power- 
loom" (1789), by which the weaving process was conducted 
with great rapidity in a factory operated by water-power. 
The hand-loom of the "domestic system" was now at an 
end ; a complete revolution had been effected in the ancient 
art of the weaver. 

The present wide use of cotton cloth in the manufacture 
of clothing is of comparatively recent date. Prior to the 
The cotton- eighteenth century, wool and linen, particularly 
gin the former, were the only materials used for this 

purpose. The invention of the cotton-gin, in 1793, by the 
American, Eli Whitney, marks a revolution in the history of 
clothes. It made possible the rapid removal of seeds from 
the cotton fibers by a mechanical device instead of by slow 
human fingers. The cotton-gin stimulated enormously the 
production of cotton, and it was now used for making cheap 
clothing. Laws were at first passed in England forbid- 
ding the use of cotton clothes because it was feared that 
the woolen industry, England's leading industry, would be 
ruined. But the great market for cotton clothing in In- 
dia and the knowledge that the cold climate of England 
would always insure a demand for woolen garments over- 
came the opposition; the manufacture of cotton became 
the greatest factor in England's industrial development and 
the main source of her prosperity. In 1785 cylinder print- 
ing was invented, whereby a roller, with a design engraved 
upon it, was run over the cloth. Previously patterns had 
been cut on wooden blocks and then stamped on the cloth. 
Finally, in 1800, a quick method of bleaching by the use of 
chemicals was discovered, and thereafter it was no longer 
necessary to expose cloth to the sun for weeks in order to 
accomplish this result. 

The use of water-power led to the building of factories 
called "mills" near streams, like those which ground wheat 
into flour. But the disadvantage of a "mill" was that 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 31 

its location was determined by geographic conditions: it 
must perforce be placed near a rapid stream or The steam- 
waterfall, irrespective of the distance from the en § ine 
source of the raw material or of centers of distribution. 
This limitation was a serious drawback to a full and free 
development of the usefulness of machinery, a limitation 
imposed by nature itself. The problem of making the 
factory completely independent of nature was solved by the 
invention of the steam-engine. That cold has the power to 
contract and heat to expand substances has been known 
for a long time; but the application of this principle to 
practical life is of recent date. In 1704 Newcomen invented 
a simple engine in which a piston was pushed up and down 
by alternately filling a cylinder with steam and then con- 
densing it. The piston was connected with a rod, and the 
rod in turn with a pump, and the result was a steam pump. 
It was James Watt, however, who became the father of the 
modern steam-engine, the giant that operates machinery 
in factories, propels ships across the seas, and draws trains 
across continents. Watt's improvement of Newcomen's 
contrivance in 1769 was so great that it amounted almost 
to a new invention. By introducing a system of valves, 
the working of the steam-engine became regular and auto- 
matic; by attaching a wheel and connecting it by means 
of a belt with a spinning- or weaving-machine, the latter 
could be driven by steam-power. Factories, having thus 
been made independent of stream and fall, were henceforth 
established near tfieir source of power, the coal and iron 
regions. 

The demand for machinery in turn created a demand for 
a hard and durable metal from which to construct it. For 
centuries the smelting of iron had been done „ , 
by means of a charcoal furnace with the aid 
of hand-bellows; and a large quantity of wood was required 
to smelt a small quantity of iron. In 1760 a blast furnace 
was invented in which coal was substituted for wood, and 
the smelting process was greatly accelerated; in 1790 steam- 
power was applied to the blast. The greatest advance in 



32 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the method of producing steel, however, came with the 
Bessemer process (1856) which ushered in the Age of Steel. 
Raw iron, called "pig iron," is brittle because it contains 
impurities; when these are removed, the metal becomes 
the tougher product known as "steel." By the Bessemer 
process the impurities are first oxidized and then removed 
by forcing currents of air through the iron. A further 
improvement was made in 1864 by the Siemens-Mar- 
tin, or "open-hearth," method, by which the impurities 
were burned out in the furnace. So various and mani- 
fold are the uses of steel that it is hard to imagine how 
our present industrial system could go on long without it. 
Machinery, tools and cutlery, rails, bridges, locomotives 
and cars, ships and armor, innumerable and indispensable 
articles to be seen on' every side in factory, office, and home, 
from immense building girders to fine watch springs, are 
made from steel. As coal was the food, and iron the bone 
and sinew, of the new slave, the machine, an enormous stim- 
ulus was given to the production of these two elements 
which have become the mainstay of modern industry. 

Revolution in Transportation 

The ever increasing quantity of goods produced by the 
new machinery soon went far beyond the requirements of 
The steam- the locality, and even of the nation, and the 
boat problem of transporting the surplus, cheaply 

and quickly, to distant places engaged men's attention. 
The conveyances of those days, the wagon and the sailboat, 
were too small and too slow to solve the problem. Neces- 
sity again proved the mother of invention. It was an 
American, Robert Fulton, who, in 1807, solved the problem 
of steam navigation by the launching of the first steamboat, 
the Clermont, on the Hudson River. In 1819 the American 
steamer Savannah crossed the Atlantic in twenty-nine 
days, but she had to use sail for part of the voyage. The 
first ship to cross the Atlantic using steam for the entire 
trip was the Great Western, a boat of 1378 tons and 212 
feet in length. She made the trip in 1838 and it took her 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 33 

fifteen days. At first steamships were built of wood, but it 
was found that iron ships were actually more buoyant than 
wooden ones and, moreover, they were stronger and more 
rigid. By the middle of the nineteenth century the build- 
ing of iron ships became general. 

What Fulton did for the steamship George Stephenson 
did for the locomotive. Several attempts had been made to 
solve the problem of steam locomotion on land, The loco- 
but Stephenson was the first to succeed. His motive 
locomotive, the Puffing Billy, built in 1814, broke down; 
but the next one, the famous Rocket, built in 1830, won a 
prize and was used on the first railway in England. Com- 
pared with a modern locomotive it was almost a toy, for 
its weight was only seven tons and its average speed but 
thirteen miles an hour. 

Revolution in Communication 
In the past, communication was almost entirely a part 
of transportation. If one wished to send a message to a 
distant place, almost the only means were by wagon, post- 
rider, or boat. Perhaps the most marvelous of all inven- 
tions have been in methods of communication. In the 
middle of the nineteenth century the electric telegraph was 
produced, perfected after many experiments by two 
Americans, Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail. The 
principle of telegraphy is based on a code of ~, 

.... - . The tele- 

Signals which are sent from one end of a copper graph and 

wire and are reproduced at the other end by the tele P hone 
action of an electro-magnet. Cyrus W. Field first estab- 
lished telegraphic communication across water in 1866 by 
the laying of the Atlantic cable. To-day, cables and the 
telegraph enable people to know almost instantly what is 
happening in the remotest parts of the world. The principle 
of the telephone was first discovered in i860 by Philip Reis, 
of Frankfort, Germany, but the practical application of the 
idea was made by Alexander Graham Bell, the father of the 
modern telephone. It is now quite an easy matter for two 
persons, separated by hundreds of miles, to hold a conver- 



34 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

sation, which is made possible by a system of sound vibra- 
tions sent along a copper wire. 

Ever since the Industrial Revolution began, the conscious 
application of science to practical ends has continued with 
Machinery increasing zeal. Nothing now seems impossible 
and modern to man's ingenuity. The human voice is repro- 
duced by the phonograph; masterpieces of mu- 
sic are played by an automatic piano, the pianola; move- 
ment is faithfully reproduced by the cinematograph or 
"moving picture." Most remarkable of all is the success 
recently attained in aerial flight by means of the heavier- 
than-air machine, the aeroplane. Electricity is rapidly 
superseding steam as the chief motive power; trains are 
moved, factories are run, houses are heated and lighted, 
and food is cooked by electricity. The Industrial Revolu- 
tion, having transformed Europe and America, is now invad- 
ing the ancient civilizations of the East, Japan, India, and 
China, where it is rapidly effecting changes in the lives of 
the inhabitants as no other influence has done in centuries. 

Results of the Industrial Revolution 

The results of the Industrial Revolution soon became 
evident. In scarcely a half-century, the face of England 
changed startlingly. Instead of farms, hamlets, and an 
occasional town, there appeared immense cities, with 
teeming populations huddled around gigantic factories. 
Lancashire and West Riding, the great cotton manufactur- 
ing centers, seemed like a forest of factories, with their 
thousands of tall chimneys belching out clouds of smoke 
and their "hundreds of windows blazing forth a lurid light 
in the darkness and rattling with the whir and din of cease- 
less machinery by day and night." England had become 
the "workshop of the world." 

A profound effect was produced upon the distribution, 
the character, and the increase of the population. The effect 
upon the distribution of the people Was twofold: on the 
one hand, there was a general growth of the north of Eng- 
land at the expense of the south, and, on the other hand, a 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



35 



INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND 

rr-Tv] The Chief Coal Districts of 
L ^ i England and Wales. 
| iThe Region of Densest Population 
L - ^ in the early XVIIIth Century. 
mmm These lines enclose the Regions 
of densest population In the 
XXth Century. 
The Cities are those which had a population of 
100.000 or over in 1910. 
Note the locations of the cities with regard to 
the coal fields. The shifting of population 
from the southeast to the northwest was 
mainly to the use of steam-power 
n manufacturing, made possible by 
the opening up of the coal mines. 




Longitude "West 



from Greenwich 



Longitude East 



constant movement of population from the rural to the 
industrial centers. In the northern part of England where 
there are large deposits of coal and iron, the Growth of 
textile, cutlery, and pottery industries made Clty llfe 
their homes. In one generation this section of the country, 
which had been sparsely inhabited, became the most densely 
populated part of Great Britain. Enormous cities, like 
Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, and Birmingham, sprang 
into existence almost overnight. In the south, where agri- 



36 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

culture continued to be the main occupation, population 
was at a standstill or had actually decreased. The entire 
natural increase was absorbed into industrial life, and the 
countryside was being emptied for the benefit of the town. 
Moreover, the rate of increase in population has more than 
doubled. Before the Industrial Revolution every decade 
saw an increase in population of about six per cent; dur- 
ing the decade 1801-1811, the increase was twenty -one per 
cent. 

Just as the hamlet was the typical expression of medieval 
life, so the factory town became the outward and visible sign 
of the new order. A factory may be defined as a mass of 
complicated machinery, manipulated by laborers, which 
transforms raw material into manufactured articles. Both 
machinery and laborers are housed in large buildings, gen- 
erally made of brick, known as the "mill" or "factory." 
With the establishment of the factory system minute sub- 
Subdivision division of labor became possible. Every part 
of labor Q f ^ e ar ti c i e was made separately by workers 

who specialized in the making of one part and in nothing 
else. So minute has the subdivision of labor become that 
at the present time there are no fewer than ninety processes 
in the making of a shoe: some men punch holes in the 
leather, others cut heels, others fit the soles, others sew on 
the buttons, etc. Labor of this kind requires, not trained 
skill, but manual dexterity, easily acquired through the 
constant repetition of the same process. The modern ma- 
chine needs but slight guidance to turn out unerringly 
thousands of articles; frequent improvements have made it 
almost human in its automatic intelligence, while man has 
become machine-like in his monotonous labor. 

The increase in output due to the introduction of ma- 
chinery was so great that it is impossible to estimate it in 
definite figures. Large-scale production for the world mar- 
Increase of ket became the order of the day, and a great 
production commercial expansion followed in the wake of 
the Industrial Revolution. As the railway and steamship 
made possible rapid transportation to every part of the 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 37 

world, every effort was made to stimulate old and to open 
new markets. Newer means of communication, like the 
cable, telegraph, telephone, and "wireless," have tended 
to unify the world market. Prices are quoted instantly the 
world over; hence buyer and seller are quickly brought 
together. Safety devices, a widespread system of insurance, 
and good policing have abated most of the dangers from 
accidents and robbery that formerly attended commerce. 

To the Industrial Revolution is directly due the appear- 
ance of two new elements in society, the capitalists and 
the working class. The capitalist was the new The cap- 
rich man who appeared side by side with the ltallst class 
landed aristocrat in the country and the wealthy merchant 
in the city. By a capitalist is meant a person who invests 
his money in industrial enterprises like factories, railways, 
mines, and steamships, from which he derives dividends or 
profits. The opportunity for making money was greatly 
increased by the new inventions, as the resources of the 
world could for the first time be fully exploited. Profits 
were large; and enormous fortunes were made by the 
shrewd and enterprising "captains of industry," who before 
long quickly outstripped in wealth both aristocrats and mer- 
chants. Most of the capitalists came from the wealthier 
townsmen; many members of the old trading companies 
and sometimes even craftsmen found opportunities to apply 
their money or ingenuity in the new industrial order. The 
great power of the new class lay not only in their wealth, 
but even more in their ownership or control of the new 
machinery of production upon which millions depended 
for their livelihood. The influence of the old landed aris- 
tocracy began to dwindle before that of the new moneyed 
aristocracy, the nobility of industrial society who, as we 
shall see, were to oust the former from their centuries-old 
control of the State. The middle classes, likewise, greatly 
increased in numbers and influence. As shopkeepers and 
professional men, they found in the rapidly growing cities 
greater opportunities for money-making than they had 
ever before known. 



38 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Equally important socially was the appearance of the new- 
poor man, the " workingman." In the past the great mass 
The work- of poor had been the serfs in the country and 
mg class ^ e lower-grade artisans in the town. When 
the factory came, thousand of peasants flocked to the city 
to find work, some because they were rather glad of an 
opportunity to leave the dull, monotonous life of the farm, 
others, as in England, because they were ousted from their 
agricultural holdings. 1 The craftsmen found the competi- 
tion of the factory too much for them, as the machine 
made things much cheaper, if not better, than their handi- 
work; consequently, many artisans were ruined by the 
labor of the "iron men," as the machines were called. It 
was no comfort to them to be told that the world would 
benefit in the long run from the use of the new inventions, 
which, they discovered, tended more to increase the profits 
of the capitalists than to better the condition of the labor- 
ers. A series of riots broke out against the "iron men"; 
many machines were destroyed by mobs, and Hargreaves 
himself was attacked by the rioters. But it was all in 
vain. The artisans were soon forced to give up their hope- 
less struggle against machinery and to find places in the 
factories. 

The coming of the machine made all laborers equal ; all 
were "hands" whose function was merely to guide in dull 
Impersonal monotony the new slave of steel. The factory 

relations ., . , - , 

between became a social group, often a very large one; 
employers }{■ waS) therefore, impossible to maintain any- 
ployees .thing like the personal relations that used to 

exist between employer and employee in the days of the 
"domestic system." The individual worker was lost in 
the great mass, and the owner of the factory was often not 
a person at all, but a corporation employing managers to 
conduct the factory. This tended to weaken the sense of 
responsibility; and evil conditions were often tolerated in 
the factories because the owners did not know of their 
existence. The greed for large profits caused many capital- 

1 See p. 55. 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 39 

ists to exploit their laborers mercilessly and blinded them 
to the evils that they were creating in society. 

In spite of the fact that the factory worker was out- 
wardly more free than the peasant or artisan, he was in 
reality more dependent than either. The peas- Evil condi . 
ant, although he might be a serf, had land from tions in the 
which he could eke out an existence no matter 
how meager; the artisan had his tools with which he could 
at any time gain a livelihood ; but the landless and toolless 
"hand" was at the mercy of the man to whom he came 
seeking for a "job," for he was obliged to accept whatever 
terms were offered. Naturally the wages that he received 
were low, his hours of labor long, and his place of work 
unsanitary and even dangerous. The laborers' homes were 
in barrack-like structures called "tenement houses," badly 
ventilated, dingy, and crowded. Great numbers of human 
beings in the large cities were constantly on the edge of 
starvation, the result of low wages and unemployment. 
Work itself sometimes became a luxury. Women and chil- 
dren were employed on a large scale because the part of 
human labor in machine production is so simple that un- 
skilled women and little children could supply it without 
great difficulty. The wages that they received were incred- 
ibly low. "It is questionable," wrote the great English 
philosopher and economist, John Stuart Mill, in 1857, "if 
all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the 
day's toil of any human being. They have enabled a greater 
population to live the same life of drudgery and imprison- 
ment, and an increased number of manufacturers and 
others to make fortunes. They have increased the com- 
forts of the middle classes, but they have not yet begun to 
effect those great changes in human destiny which it is in 
their nature and in their futurity to accomplish." 

As long as society was based on agriculture, and com- 
merce was merely local, there was a high degree of security 
for all classes of the population. Prices varied Unemploy- 
but little, employment was regular, and panics ment 
were almost unknown. It was only in the case of an exceed- 



4 o MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ingly bad harvest that there was what might be termed 
an "agricultural panic." But the change to an industrial 
society, although it brought great prosperity, at the same 
time brought with it instability and uncertainty. Trade 
based upon a world market is bound to be irregular and 
fluctuating; the supply of raw material varies every year; 
capital is sometimes unwisely invested; new machinery 
constantly displaces labor and changes the character of the 
industry; often, too, there is over-production. Such condi- 
tions tend to produce a general dislocation of trade, known 
as a "panic," which reduces or destroys the profits of cap- 
ital, throws thousands of laborers out of work, and so 
brings misery and ruin to many. Insecurity of employment, 
even more than low wages, is the haunting fear of millions 
of workingmen, who seldom earn enough to tide them over 
periods of enforced idleness. 

Once a momentum was given to invention, one improve- 
ment succeeded another in rapid succession, with the result 
Labor sav- tnat mucn of the labor in the factory, on the 
ing through farm, and even in the home is now performed by 
ery machinery. Buildings are constructed, bread is 
baked, land is plowed, clothes are sewn, and floors are swept 
by machinery. It is not too much to hope that the time will 
come when human labor of the roughest kind will be entirely 
done away with. In the past, when labor was performed by 
slaves or serfs, leisure was enjoyed only by the very few 
wealthy persons. But now that machinery is superseding 
human labor, it has become possible for millions to enjoy a 
certain degree of leisure. The work-day is gradually being 
shortened to eight hours, holidays are more frequent, and 
vacations more general. This gives opportunities for recre- 
ation and culture to many who, in the past, were sunk in 
misery and ignorance. Nature, before which man once 
crouched in terror and helplessness, is now his willing slave, 
performing the most gigantic tasks at his bidding. By 
harnessing nature great engineering enterprises have be- 
come possible. Lofty mountains like the Alps are tunneled ; 
suspension bridges span wide rivers; oceans are connected 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 41 

by great canals like the Suez and Panama; the continents 
of Europe and Asia are united by the Trans-Siberian Rail- 
way; ancient rivers like the Nile are made entirely naviga- 
ble. Nothing now seems to bar the progress of man, who 
removes with the utmost ease obstacles on land and water 
that once appeared insuperable. 

The effects of the Industrial Revolution upon politics 
were far-reaching. It brought into the political arena the 
two new classes, capitalists and workingmen, The new 
who immediately began to clamor for political P olltics 
power, which up to this time had been enjoyed almost ex- 
clusively by the landed aristocracy. Democracy, hitherto 
an idea advocated by philosophers, became the rallying 
cry of the new classes who gave it the powerful support of 
wealth and numbers. The nineteenth century witnessed 
an almost continuous struggle to break down the power of 
aristocracy and absolute monarchy, which in many countries 
finally terminated in the triumph of universal suffrage and 
the control of the State by the majority of its citizens. 

The welding together of different parts of a country by 
the railway, steamboat, and telegraph deepened the sense 
of national unity. Particularly devoted to the The new 
ideal of nationalism were the new industrial natl0nallsm 
classes, who needed strong governments to protect their 
manufactures at home and their investments abroad. The 
loosely knit agricultural nation, with its special privileges 
to localities, classes, and religions, controlled by a landed 
aristocracy and headed by an absolute monarch, gave place 
to a firmly established industrial nation, with uniform laws 
for all citizens, controlled by the middle classes, and gov- 
erned by representative parliaments. Old nations like 
France and England lost their provincial differences in cus- 
toms, habits, laws, and speech. Common economic interests 
at last gave a solid foundation to the national aspirations 
of both Germans and Italians, who had remained divided 
for so many centuries, and led them to unite, each into a 
common fatherland. 

If nationalism was intensified, so, curiously enough, was 



42 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

internationalism. The new means of transportation car- 
The new rie( ^ no ^ on ^ g°°ds, but also people and ideas. 
internation- Foreign travel has increased at an astonish- 
ing rate, and many persons are now enabled 
to visit foreign lands who formerly would never have 
set foot outside of their own country. This has inevi- 
tably led to a better understanding among the nations of 
the world of one another's ideals and institutions. Cheap 
transportation has stimulated emigration on a vast scale. 
Workers quickly find out where a market for their labor 
exists, and leave their native land to seek employment in 
other countries. 

So great a change in human relations as was produced 
by the Industrial Revolution was bound to find expression 
Individual- in a new philosophy. "Individualism" was the 
ism ideal preached by the philosophers of the new 

order. They declared that the individual was to be allowed 
to work out his own salvation, particularly in economic 
affairs, unhampered by governmental restrictions. It was 
thought that the rivalry between individuals would develop 
strength of character and would stimulate originality by 
offering the rewards of wealth and fame; society would 
thereby be the gainer, for it would lead to an increased pro- 
duction of wealth. "Competition is the life of trade" was 
one of the aphorisms of the new school. Those individuals 
who survived the struggle were considered the "fit," and 
those who did not survive, the "unfit." To the State was 
assigned the role of laissez faire (French, "let alone"), by 
which was meant that its function was to be limited to 
the protection of life and property. On no account was 
the State to interfere between employer and employee or 
between buyer and seller save to prevent fraud, monopoly, 
or violation of contract. The Individualists were also be- 
lievers in the doctrines of liberty and equality, which they 
desired to see applied to political, religious, and intellectual 
affairs on the principle of equal rights to all and special 
privileges to none. They became stanch advocates of free- 
dom of speech, equality of all classes before the law, religious 
toleration, and extension of the suffrage. 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 43 

Naturally enough, the philosophers of individualism were 
mainly Englishmen. The most eminent were Adam Smith, 
whose book, The Wealth of Nations, became the Bible of the 
new school, and Jeremy Bentham, whose Principles of Leg- 
islation formulated the doctrines of political individualism. 
A group of brilliant writers, consisting of David Ricardo, 
James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Robert Mal- 
thus, known as the Manchester School, 1 preached the 
doctrine of individualism in economics with such extraor- 
dinary ability that it was universally accepted for several 
generations. This philosophy harmonized well with the 
interest of the manufacturers, who dreaded State interfer- 
ence in economic matters lest it be exerted in favor of their 
rivals, the landed aristocracy, or of their subordinates, the 
working class. 

The rate of human progress has been greatly accelerated 
by the Industrial Revolution. In the past, changes took 
place so slowly that many people were not aware i ncrease ; n 
that they took place at all. The only notice- the rate °f 
able changes were those produced by invasions 
of hostile armies, by pestilential diseases, or by natural ca- 
lamities like earthquakes and fires. Hence, conservatism 
was the principle adhered to, for it meant the conserva- 
tion of civilization. Moreover, an agricultural society is 
static; communication is slow and arduous; and it is, 
consequently, difficult to spread new ideas. As long as the 
basis of a people's livelihood remains unchanged, their 
ideas remain likewise unchanged. But an industrial society 
is dynamic. A factory appears in an isolated hamlet, and 
immediately a bustling city comes into being, with rail- 
ways, telegraphs, telephones, and newspapers connecting 
it with the rest of the world. As a result, old habits are 
broken up, new relations are established, and sometimes a 
new population appears in the place of the old. The "good 
old times" pass quickly and new traditions take root; 
progress becomes the law of life, and backward communi- 
ties soon decay and die. 

1 The city of Manchester became famous as the industrial capital of England. 



44 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

In the Age of Machinery there appeared a new politics, 
a new history, and even new subjects of study, like Polit- 
Influenceof lca ^ Economy, Political Science, and Sociology. 
the 1 I, i 1 > d " s " History, particularly, is being explained from 
lution on new points of view. Instead of describing bat- 
thoug t t j es ^ s j C g CS) treaties, dynasties, constitutions, and 

political parties almost exclusively, it concerns itself also 
with explaining how social and economic conditions influ- 
ence the life and character of a people. These forces, 
although they have always been influential in moulding 
the destinies of nations, were lost sight of in the study of 
the more sensational happenings of war and politics. But 
the Industrial Revolution has made these forces visible. 
We see more clearly to-day how economic changes affect 
political development; how weak, divided, agricultural 
Germany has become strong, united, industrial Germany; 
how the British system of government has been modified 
as a result of social and economic changes; how semi-agri- 
cultural, semi-industrial France has oscillated between rev- 
olution and reaction; and how the American railway, more 
than the Federal Constitution, has made of the United 
States a "more perfect Union." 



CHAPTER IV 
OLD ENGLAND 

England has the proud distinction of being the first 
country to institute the system of government known as 
constitutional, or limited, monarchy. The "Glo- Parliament 
rious Revolution" of 1689, which resulted in the supersedes 

1 • r T-I7-11- r s-\ 1 • 1 • the King as 

election 01 William ol Orange to the kingship, ruler of 
gave to Parliament supreme power in the govern- En s IancJ 
ment of the nation, although the king continued to exercise 
the executive power, to appoint and remove officials, to 
conduct foreign affairs, and to exercise the veto power. 
With the coming of the Hanoverians in the person of 
George I (1714), another great step was taken in rendering 
powerless the English monarchy. The king ceased to ap- 
point officials, to veto bills, and even to attend cabinet 
meetings; these functions were taken over by the cabinet, 
headed by the prime minister, which was responsible to 
Parliament for all of its acts. 1 

Because of England's primacy in parliamentary govern- 
ment she was regarded by the reformers on the Continent 
as the home of political freedom and liberty. England, the 
The great French writers, Montesquieu and Vol- J^gf^ 
taire, had written fulsome praise of the Eng- Europe 
lish system, which they had recommended as a model to 
the oppressed peoples of Europe. In the opinion of the 
great English jurist, Blackstone, it was the perfection of 
human wisdom. England, too, was the only country which 
had remained unshaken by the terrific upheaval caused by 
the French Revolution that had transformed every other 
nation in Western Europe. Freedom combined with sta- 
bility seemed to be the happy condition of the inhabitants 
of Great Britain. 

1 See p. 325. 



46 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Political Conditions 

The truth was that England was far indeed from having 
realized the ideal of true democracy. Behind the veil of 
IT , . Parliament an oligarchy held sway through a 

Unfairness ° J . 111 

of repre- system of unfair representation and shameless 
sentation corruption. In 1 81 5 the House of Commons con- 
sisted of 658 members representing Great Britain and 
Ireland. Of these, 186 were elected by county, or country, 
constituencies, 467 by boroughs, or towns, and 5 by the 
universities. 

As we have already seen, the Industrial Revolution had 
produced great changes in the number and distribution of 
the population. In some places, particularly in the north 
of England, small villages had grown into large cities; in 
other places, as in the agricultural south, the population 
remained stationary, or had actually declined. But repre- 
sentation in the House of Commons was largely what it 
had been since the Middle Ages, because there did not exist 
a system of periodic reapportionment of seats. 

The unfairness of the apportionment of representatives 
before 1832 was most glaring. Towns like Buckingham, 
with thirteen voters, Gatton with five, Orford with 
twenty, Middlehurst with thirteen, old Sarum with none, 
and Dunwich, sunk under the waters of the North Sea, all 
duly elected members to Parliament; whereas great cities 
like Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds had no repre- 
sentation in the national legislature. Scotland was given 
forty-five seats, and the county of Cornwall, with only one 
eighth of her population, forty-four seats. The members 
of Parliament from the "rotten boroughs," as the decayed 
towns were called, were really appointed by the local land- 
lords, who had little difficulty in coercing the few voters, 
generally tenants on their estates. Many seats were un- 
contested because of the certainty of the election of some 
noble lord's candidate. A system of " borough-mongering " 
had grown up whereby rich men, desirous of the social dis- 
tinction of being in public life, would purchase seats in 



OLD ENGLAND 47 

Parliament. Lord John Russell, who led in the attack upon 
these conditions, declared that if a stranger, who came to 
England full of admiration for the land of political freedom, 
were taken "to a green mound, and told that this green 
mound sent two members to Parliament; or to a green wall 
with three niches in it and told that these three niches sent 
two members to Parliament; or, if he were shown a green 
park, with many signs of flourishing vegetable life but none 
of human habitation, and told that this green park sent 
two members to Parliament," he would be greatly surprised. 
" But his surprise would increase to astonishment if he were 
carried into the north of England, where he would see large 
flourishing towns, full of trade and activity, containing vast 
magazines of wealth and manufactures, and were told that 
these places had no representation in the assembly which 
was said to represent the people." l 

The right to vote, too, was limited to comparatively a 
very few. According to English theory, suffrage was not a 
human right, appertaining to every citizen, but p roperty 
a privilege attached to property, particularly to restrictions 
landed property, or to certain offices. In some 
towns the mayor and council, in others the "freemen," a 
small group of privileged burghers, chose the member of 
Parliament. In the counties, only those who owned land 
yielding forty shillings a year income could vote in the 
parliamentary elections: this class, because of the disap- 
pearance of the peasant proprietors, was very small. Hence, 
only about five per cent of all the adult males in Great Brit- 
ain and Ireland had the right to vote. In Scotland, in a 
population of about two million, there were only about 
three thousand voters. Moreover, bribery was open and 
prevalent, no shame attaching to vote-buying, as suffrage 
was considered a property right. Candidates would openly 
advertise their prices for votes. The method of balloting 
then employed was known as viva voce, or declaration of 
one's choice of candidates in public. This method en- 
couraged coercion of electors by those who had power over 
them, such as landlords, employers, and officials. 

1 Cheyney, Readings in English History, p. 681. 



48 MODERN' AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

During the days of the " unreformed " House of Commons 
there was never any disagreement between that body and 
Control of ^he House of Lords, for the reason that the 
Commons electoral system then in vogue resulted in the 
control of the former by the latter. The Govern- 
ment of England before the Reform Bill of 1832 might be 
described as a government of the people, by the landlords, 
for the landlords. 

Religious Conditions 

Privilege was as dominant a feature in the Church as it 
was in the Government. As long ago as 1689, the English 
had by law established freedom of worship, whereby any 
person could worship as he or she pleased, without molesta- 
tion by the authorities. But this did not at all mean equal 
recognition of all religions; on the contrary, the greatest 
inequality among the various religious sects existed in Great 
Britain well into the nineteenth century. According to the 
law the people were classified as (1) Episcopalians, or An- 
glicans, members of the Established Church ; l (2) Dis- 
senters, or Nonconformists, i.e., Protestants, like the Meth- 
odists, Baptists, and Congregational ists, who refused to 
conform to the ritual and organization of the Established 
Church ; and (3) Catholics and Jews. 

The Episcopal was the favored Church. It was sup- 
ported by special local taxes levied on landholders irrespec- 
Privileges tive of their religion, and by the income from 
Established vast P ro P ert ies given to the Church in times 
Church past by the Government; it had the exclusive 

right to register births and perform marriages; of all re- 
ligious denominations in England it alone was accorded 
representation in the House of Lords. Episcopalians were 
especially favored by being appointed to the higher 
offices in the government service and by special educa- 
tional opportunities in the universities. Socially, it was 
considered " bad form " to profess any other faith. 

1 In Scotland, the Presbyterian, not the Episcopal, was the Established 
Church. 



OLD ENGLAND 49 

The position of the Dissenters, because they were sub- 
ject to disabilities, was humiliating both socially and 
legally. Although they were permitted to vote Disabilities 
and to be members of Parliament, they were Ep?scopa- 
disqualified from holding high office in the lians 
Government. Nevertheless, the law often became a dead 
letter, as Parliament annually passed an Indemnity Act 
which legalized the official acts of the Dissenters in office. 
They were, however, socially ostracized; and the higher 
institutions of learning, like Oxford and Cambridge, where 
degrees were granted only to Anglicans, were practically 
closed to them. The Catholics and the Jews suffered not 
only all the disabilities of the Dissenters, but, in addition, 
they were barred from the public service; they could not 
be members of Parliament and, in many instances, they were 
denied the suffrage entirely. 

Social Conditions 

In its train the factory system brought a host of evils to 
the working classes, particularly to the most helpless of 
them, the women and children. Large numbers r , 

' . ° Employment 

of workers, men, women, and children, were gath- of women 
ered in huge buildings with little or no provision in t he fac- Cn 
for the safeguarding of health or for the pres- to . ries and 
ervation of decency; naturally, factories became 
hot-beds of disease, misery, and vice. The hours of labor 
were from twelve to sixteen, even for children ; wages were 
down to the starvation level, and frequently the entire 
family, father, mother, and children, were compelled to 
work in the factory in order to eke out an existence. In some 
places women were employed in the mines, where they were 
harnessed to coal carts which they dragged around creep- 
ing on hands and feet through narrow and dangerous pas- 
sages. Pauper children were "apprenticed" to the factory 
by the overseers of the poor, their only wages being food 
and clothes of the coarsest kind. These child slaves, some 
only five or six years old, slept in relays in dormitories 
built near the factory. Early every morning they were 



50 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

awakened and taken to the "mill," where, "in stench, in 
heated rooms, amid the constant whirling of a thousand 
wheels, idle fingers and little feet were kept in ceaseless 
action, forced into unnatural activity by blows from the 
heavy hands and feet of the merciless overlooker, and the 
infliction of bodily pain by instruments invented by the 
sharpened ingenuity of insatiable selfishness." If any were 
suspected of a desire to run away in order to escape from 
their unbearable misery, they were regarded as criminals and 
mercilessly chained to the machines which they operated. 
To the claims of humanity, many employers had become 
entirely deaf through their desire for large profits. But 
thoughtful and patriotic Englishmen realized that the rising 
generation of the working class was growing up under con- 
ditions which produced physical degeneracy, abject igno- 
rance, and shocking immorality. 

During the early part of the nineteenth century the cost 
of living was continually rising, whereas wages either re- 
Charity sup- mairie d stationary or rose very slowly. The 
plements employment of women and children had the 
effect of throwing many men out of work. By 
the Poor Law of 1782 those who could not support them- 
selves by their earnings were "assisted" by "outdoor 
relief," the money for which was raised from the rates, or 
local taxes. The employers who contributed to the poor 
rates regarded this as a supplement added by them to the 
factory "hand's" weekly earnings and thereby felt them- 
selves justified in continuing the shamefully low wages. 
By 1 82 1 the number of "assisted" poor had risen to about 
two and a half million. 

Popular education being in a very low state, the over- 
whelming majority of the lower classes could neither read 
Opposition nor write - Private religious and philanthropic 
to popular societies conducted small schools in which the 
rudiments of knowledge were crudely imparted 
to a few, who were taught by ill-paid teachers assisted by 
"monitors, " or pupil teachers. Astonishing as it may seem, 
education for the lower classes was generally regarded as 



OLD ENGLAND 51 

an evil to themselves and to the community at large. When 
in 1807 Samuel Whitbread first proposed in Parliament 
that the public should support popular education, objec- 
tion was raised that it would be prejudicial to the morals 
and happiness of the working class; that "it would teach 
them to despise their lot in life instead of making them good 
servants in agriculture and other laborious employment to 
which their rank has destined them; instead of teaching 
them subordination it would render them fractious and re- 
fractory as was evident in the manufacturing counties; it 
would enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious 
books, and publications against Christianity; it would ren- 
der them insolent to their superiors." 

Although freedom of the press was theoretically estab- 
lished when Parliament abolished official censorship in 
1695, a system of "taxing knowledge," never- Taxation of 
theless, made a mockery of this principle. knowled g e 
Special taxes on paper and stamp taxes on pamphlets, 
newspapers, and advertisements so increased the cost of 
publication that the average price of a newspaper was 
fourteen cents a copy. A cheap press, it was feared, would 
curry favor with its readers by advocating democratic ideas 
and so undermine the authority of the upper classes. It 
was often possible to evade the law by resorting to irregular 
publication or by secret circulation; and "private papers" 
appeared, poorly printed, badly written, and ill-informed. 
Presaging better days, the London Times installed its first 
steampress in 18 14. The circulation rose to five thousand, 
but the price of a copy was eighteen cents! And outside of 
London there was not a single daily paper. 

The attitude of the public toward prisoners is suffi- 
ciently shown by the barbarous criminal code and by the 
conditions in the prisons. Death was the pen- Bar b arous 
alty prescribed for about two hundred and fifty treatment of 
offenses, some of them as trivial as stealing five 
shillings worth of goods from a shop, picking pockets, 
stealing linen from bleaching-grounds, or harboring of- 
fenders against the revenue laws. The humanity of the 



52 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

juries, however, softened the application of the code, as 
they frequently refused to send men to the gallows for 
committing petty crimes. The prisons, maintained by 
keepers subsidized by the Government, were filthy places; 
men, women, and children were indiscriminately herded 
together, the hardened criminals with the first offenders. 
Naturally enough, prisons became schools for crime, young 
criminals learning to become more expert in their dis- 
honest calling. 

Somber as was this side of English life before the great 
reform movements, in the rising power and growing in- 
Reform fluence of the middle classes lay the hope of 

by a £Sm"d! a new and happier England. The Industrial 
die classes Revolution having opened for them wonderful 
opportunities for the rapid attainment of wealth, great 
power and influence accrued to this element in society, 
which proved to be opposed to oligarchic rule in politics, to 
religious discriminations, to general illiteracy, and to barba- 
rous and archaic systems of law. During the nineteenth 
century the middle classes were the champions of progress 
in almost every field of human endeavor. From their ranks 
were produced the great political and social reformers like 
Gladstone and Bright, the leaders of thought like John 
Stuart Mill, Darwin, and Huxley, and, in many cases, 
even the champions of the working classes. To organize 
society on an industrial basis was the prime function of the 
middle class. In the process much needless suffering was 
inflicted, serious problems were created, and many vicious 
practices were condoned; nevertheless, the task once ac- 
complished, it marked the greatest advance mankind had 
yet made. 

The Agricultural Revolution 

During the eighteenth century land in Great Britain was 
~, , , , . cultivated more or less in the same manner as 

Old-fashion- 
ed methods it had been during the Middle Ages. Under the 

o arming "open-field" system, farms consisted of strips 
scattered in various fields, and not of compact, fenced-off 



OLD ENGLAND 53 

areas as they generally do to-day. Every villager owned 
several of these strips, one of rye, another of oats, and a 
third of wheat. This system compelled all to work upon the 
strips of similar crops at the same time, and to take equally 
good care of their land, for if the lazy or inefficient farmer 
allowed weeds to grow on his strip, that of his diligent 
neighbor suffered. The system involved a twofold eco- 
nomic waste: of much cultivable land given over to num- 
erous footpaths; and of time spent in going from one to 
another of the strips. There was still in vogue, also, the 
centuries-old "three-field" system, which required that one 
field be allowed to lie fallow every three years in order to 
preserve its fertility. Root crops, like carrots and turnips, 
were virtually unknown. Progress in agricultural methods 
was difficult, as the entire village community had to take the 
initiative; this was seldom possible among the conserva- 
tive, old-fashioned country folk. Besides the arable land 
there was the "common" to which every villager was 
entitled to send so many heads of cattle. Promiscuous 
herding of cattle tended to promote disease among them; 
hence the live stock of those days was ill-fed and ill-kept, 
consequently small and lean. The main reason for raising 
cattle was not for their meat, but for their hides or wool, 
or for draught purposes. 

The pressure of a growing population, mainly urban in 
character, was directly the cause of an Agricultural Rev- 
olution, which, if not so profound in its influence The A . 
as its industrial counterpart, nevertheless deeply cultural 
affected the history of the English people. In 
order to fill the rapidly increasing demand for food it be- 
came necessary to convert the self-sufficing village farms 
into factories of bread and meat. This Agricultural Revolu- 
tion had two important aspects: (1) a reform in agricul- 
tural methods, and (2) the establishment of a new system 
of land tenure. 

One of the most distinguished of modern agricultural re- 
formers was Jethro Tull, who became the English pioneer 
in what is now termed scientific agriculture. About the 



54 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

middle of the eighteenth century he introduced "drill hus- 
Drill bandry," by which is meant that, instead of 

husbandry sowing the seeds broadcast as had been the 
custom from time immemorial, they were to be sown in 
furrows by a "drill" which deposited the seeds in straight 
rows. Tull was also a strong advocate of pulverizing the 
soil, a process which greatly improves the crop. 

Viscount Townshend, an enthusiastic follower of Tull, 
turned his estate into a model agricultural laboratory. By 
Rotation of planting root crops and artificial grasses alter- 
crops nately with grain upon the same land in suc- 

cessive seasons, he demonstrated the value of the new sys- 
tem called the "rotation of crops," by which he kept all 
his land under cultivation all the time, to such good effect 
that the value of his estate doubled during the decade 1730- 
40, and a death-blow was dealt to the three-field system in 
England. 

The pioneer in the scientific breeding of cattle was 
Robert Bake well, who greatly improved the breeds of sheep 
Cattle and cows by careful feeding and selection. As 

breeding a resu it G f his new methods the average weight 
of sheep in England doubled between 1710 and 1795. 

One of the most famous of English agricultural reform- 
ers was Arthur Young. He traveled all over England and 
Arthur France investigating agricultural conditions, and 

Young became a tireless advocate of better methods 

of tilling the soil. It was he who strongly favored the idea 
of large farms worked by men with capital on a profit basis, 
the ideal of the new industrial system applied to agriculture. 
In the past, farming "had been the pastime of the town, 
the inspiration of the poets, the relaxation of statesmen, 
the pursuit of individual owners"; it was now to be an in- 
dustry like any other, based upon capital and science. 

Along with these changes there came another, the en- 
The yeo- closure movement, which was the effective cause 
manry Q £ t j ie p resen t system of land tenure in Great 

Britain. Most of the land was then in the hands of "free- 
holders" and "copy-holders," peasant proprietors who, 



OLD ENGLAND 55 

for all their inefficiency, managed to get a comfortable 
livelihood from their strips. These men were the yeo- 
manry, so much praised in English literature and his- 
tory as the virile class that had upheld English honor on 
many a battlefield. The advantages of the new methods of 
cultivation could not be fully reaped until a system of land 
tenure was established which should permit greater free- 
dom of experiment and more efficient management than 
the conservative, easy-going, and wasteful system of strip 
cultivation allowed. 

Enclosure, or the consolidation of strips into unified, 
fenced-off fields, was the only solution. But how was this 
to be brought about? The easiest way was the The endo 
one that appealed to the selfish interests of the sure move- 
great landed proprietors who then dominated men 
the politics of England. Acts of Parliament were passed 
appointing commissioners to investigate the validity of le- 
gal claims to landowning. These commissioners demanded 
that the yeomen show a legal title to their farms, and if it 
were not forthcoming, their claims to ownership were de- 
clared invalid. As many of these titles had been lost, thou- 
sands of peasants were summarily ejected from the lands 
which they and their ancestors had cultivated for centuries. 
Acts of "enclosure" were then passed by Parliament which 
consolidated the strips into farms and handed them over 
to the lord of the manor. Between 1750 and 1810 no fewer 
than 2921 such laws were passed. At the beginning of the 
eighteenth century there were about 180,000 yeomen "free- 
holders "; by the beginning of the nineteenth, this class 
of farmers had become almost extinct. The village "com- 
mons," to which no legal title had ever existed, fell an 
easy prey to the rapacity of the great lords. These lands 
were "enclosed," and became the property, by acts of 
Parliament, of the lord of the manor. 

Thousands of husbandmen, ruined and rendered home- 
less, deserted their villages x and flocked to the industrial 

1 Goldsmith's famous poem, The Deserted Village, is a description of the 
results brought about by this change. 



56 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

centers, constituting a large supply of cheap labor for 
the manufacturers. This great confiscation of the prop- 
erty of the poor by the great landlords is responsible for 
modern rural England with its huge estates, tenant farm- 
ers, and landless agricultural laborers. 1 

1 See p. 35° ff • 



CHAPTER V 

THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 
1815-67 

The Great Reform Bill of 1832 

The history of England during the nineteenth century was 
largely a history of reforms. Long-established institutions, 
political, religious, social, and economic, were destined to be 
swept away or to be radically modified by the liberal tide 
which rose at the close of the Napoleonic wars. 

At the end of the eighteenth century, efforts had been 
made to reform the political system by great statesmen, 
like Edmund Burke and the Earl of Chatham, Appearance 
and by radical agitators, like Thomas Paine of a power- 

1 t 1 ,,7-ii n 11 1 ful class that 

and John Wilkes. But all the attempts came favored 
to naught, partly because the reformers lacked reform 
the support of a powerful class whose interest it was to 
change political conditions, and partly because the ex- 
cesses of the Reign of Terror in France had discredited the 
cause of democracy. The Industrial Revolution gave birth 
to a class of manufacturers, who chafed under the rule of 
the landed aristocracy that controlled the State in its own 
interests. Most of the high positions in the public service, 
civil, military, educational, and even religious, were re- 
served for the members of the aristocracy and their favor- 
ites. Socially, the factory owners, no matter how wealthy, 
were despised by the upper classes, who regarded "trade" 
as undignified and somewhat defiling. The manufactu- 
rers determined to assert their power in the State, and 
they consequently became stout champions of reform 
which, by extending the suffrage and by giving representa- 
tion to the industrial centers, would shift political power 
from the upper to the middle classes among whom they 
were the leaders. 



58 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

To the help of the manufacturers came the working 
classes, who demanded not only the abolition of the "rot- 
Thework- ^ en boroughs " but also universal manhood 
ingmen suffrage. The workingmen, too, hated the 

aristocrats as the arch-enemies of their class, 
for they were prevented from organizing and agitating by 
the repressive laws of the day. To oust the aristocracy from 
power, it was thought, would mean the establishment of 
democracy, and the welfare of the worker would thereby 
be greatly promoted. As a matter of fact, the middle class, 
not the working class, was to succeed to the political posi- 
tion formerly held by the landed aristocracy. 

Chief among the leaders in the reform agitation were 
the radicals, Francis Place, a London tailor of great or- 
. ganizing ability, whose shop became the re- 
sort of agitators of all kinds; Robert Owen, the 
well-known social reformer; and William Cobbett, the first 
influential popular editor in England. Cobbett published 
and edited a radical newspaper, The Weekly Register, the 
price of which he reduced from one shilling to twopence, 
or four cents, a copy. It was brilliantly and forcefully writ- 
ten and was widely read by the working classes, who came 
to regard Cobbett as their leader and spokesman. "Let us 
have this reform [universal suffrage] first, and all other 
good things will be given unto us," was his slogan. 

The defeat of Napoleon brought peace, but not pros- 
perity, to England. Thousands of discharged soldiers and 
The Peterloo sa ^ ors were without employment ; many mer- 
Massacre; chants were ruined by the reentrance of for- 

t he Six Acts • ,♦,• »■ ■, •,■, i 

eign competition which came with peace; and 
thousands of laborers were therefore thrown out of work. 
Discontent of all kinds was skillfully directed by the radi- 
cals into the channel of parliamentary reform. Political 
societies were founded, monster demonstrations were or- 
ganized, and petitions demanding reform were drawn up. 
Riots broke out in almost every part of the kingdom. The 
Government became frightened and, in 1817, suspended 
the Habeas Corpus Act. Two years later an event occurred 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 59 

which aroused the greatest indignation. A popular mass 
meeting was to be held at St. Peter's Field in Manchester 
for the purpose of demanding reform. As the meeting had 
been prohibited by the authorities, the military were ordered 
to break it up; they charged the crowd, killing some and. 
injuring many, amid the wildest confusion. This Mas- 
sacre of Peterloo, as it was called, was followed by the pas- 
sage of the famous Six Acts 1 which greatly limited the free- 
dom of speech, of the press, and of assembly. The governing 
classes at that time seemed to see no other remedy for 
discontent than repression, and they were willing to go to 
the extent of violating the traditional ideals of freedom so 
much prized by the English people. 

Nevertheless, England continued to seethe with discon- 
tent, which grew in volume from year to year; but Par- 
liament, completely under the control of the The Duke oi 
aristocratic Tory party, turned a deaf ear to Wellington 
all demands for reform. The July Revolution 
of 1830 in France greatly aroused the English working 
class, who longed to imitate their French brothers behind 
the barricades. The King, George IV, died in 1830 and was 
succeeded by his brother, William IV. In the election 
which usually follows the accession of a new king, the 
Tory majority was considerably reduced. But the Duke 
of Wellington, the Prime Minister, strongly opposed the 
reform of Parliament because, as he declared, he had 
"never read or heard of any measure up to the present 
moment which could in any degree satisfy his mind that 
the state of representation could be improved," and that 
it would be difficult to reproduce a political system like 
the present one, " for the nature of man was incapable of 
reaching such excellence at once." A wave of popular in- 
dignation swept over the country as a result of this speech, 
and many Tories in Parliament, who disliked Wellington 

1 These were: (i) the prohibition of military exercises by persons not author- 
ized to perform them, (2) quick trials for offenders, (3) issuing of search war- 
rants for arms, (4) suppression of seditious literature and the banishment of 
the authors, (5) restriction of the right of public meeting, and (6) heavy stamp 
duties on newspapers. 



60 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

because he had consented to Catholic Emancipation, 1 
joined with the Whigs to overthrow the Ministry. A Whig 
Cabinet was formed on March I, 183 1, with Earl Grey 
as Premier, who promptly introduced a Reform Bill. In 
the debate which followed, the measure was denounced by 
the Tories as "destructive of all property, of all right, of 
all privilege." The bill was defeated, and Parliament was 
dissolved. 

The election which followed was one of the most memor- 
able in English history. Each side was determined to win 
The Reform by fair means or foul, and intimidation, violence, 
Bill of 1832 anc j k r ib er y were openly practiced. "The bill, 
the whole bill, and nothing but the bill!" was the cry of the 
reformers. The result was a great victory for the Whigs, and 
Earl Grey again became Prime Minister. Lord John Rus- 
sell, a prominent Whig leader, introduced the Reform Bill 
in the House of Commons. It was passed by the Com- 
mons, but was thrown out by the Lords. During the next 
session it was again passed by the Commons. The hostile 
attitude of the Lords to reform aroused the liveliest indig- 
nation throughout the country. Great mass meetings were 
held at which they were denounced as a corrupt and self- 
ish oligarchy; enormous processions were organized that 
paraded in favor of the bill; and riots broke out in many 
cities. England seemed to be on the verge of revolution. 
The problem was how to pass the Reform Bill in a consti- 
tutional manner in spite of the opposition of the Upper 
House. An expedient was hit upon by the Whigs: the King 
was asked to swamp the House of Lords by creating a suf- 
ficient number of new peers pledged to vote for the Reform 
Bill. But the King refused the request, and the Grey Cabi- 
net resigned. The Duke of Wellington then tried to form 
a Ministry, but his attempts were futile, and the situa- 
tion became exceedingly dangerous for those in power. 
The King was plainly told that it was a question now of 
reform or revolution, and he finally consented to the plan 
of creating new peers. But the peers, hearing of the reso- 

1 See p. 79. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 61 

lution of the King and knowing that it was useless further 
to oppose the bill, decided to let it pass: one hundred of 
its opponents absented themselves from the House of 
Lords, and the bill passed that body on June 4, 1832. 

The provisions of the new law concerned (1) the redis- 
tribution of seats and (2) the qualifications for suffrage. 
Great changes were made in the system of repre- Provisions 
sentation: fifty-six " rotten boroughs " were dis- of the law 
franchised; thirty-two, with populations of less than four 
thousand, lost one seat each; twenty-two large cities were 
given two seats each; and twenty got one each. The coun- 
ties were divided into electoral districts, each of which 
elected a representative to Parliament. New qualifications 
for voting were prescribed. In the counties the vote was 
given to tenants whose holding was of the annual value of at 
least fifty dollars (£10); in the boroughs, to those who 
rented or owned a building of the same annual value. As 
it did not establish universal suffrage, the Reform Bill was 
very far from being a completely democratic measure. By 
the provisions of the bill the number of voters was in- 
creased from 435,000 to 656,000 out of about 6,000,000 adult 
males, the new electors being almost exclusively from the 
middle classes; but farm laborers in the country, the work- 
ingmen, and some of the lower middle class in the cities 
were still unenfranchised. Nevertheless, a breach was made 
in the aristocratic wall, only large enough at first for the 
middle classes to enter, but destined to be widened later 
to admit all classes. 

The Reform Bill of 1832 effected as great a change in 
the politics and government of England as did the Revo- 
lution of 1689. It transferred supreme political The middle 
power from the landed aristocracy to the middle classes now 
classes, who maintained their supremacy in the 
Government down to the beginning of the twentieth cen- 
tury. The House of Lords, though it remained under the 
control of the aristocracy, came out of the struggle with 
shattered prestige and partial loss of power. It was now 
established as a precedent that in case of a disagreement 



A 



62 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

between the two Houses, the Lords must yield if, in the 
election following a dissolution of the Commons, the coun- 
try upheld the latter. The Crown grew in popularity 
because it had contributed to the overthrow of the aris- 
tocracy; and whatever republican spirit had formerly ex- 
isted now disappeared. That the Lords yielded to the de- 
mands of the people without any other than a contest at 
the polls was a great gain to orderly progress. The idea 
that great reforms could be brought about without revolu- 
tion, if only there was sufficient agitation to convince the 
ruling classes that the people were determined upon a 
change, took deep root in English political life. It is to the 
great credit of the English aristocrats that they have never 
sought to undo a change once made: unlike the French 
aristocrats, they have been conservative, not reactionary. 

The Era of Reform 

The passage of the Reform Bill of 1832 opened the 
floodgates to many other reforms. For a generation Parlia- 
~, ,» . ment, which was now under the control of the 

The Mum- ' 

cipal Reform reformers, busied itself in abolishing old abuses 
and in instituting reforms in almost every field, 
political, social, religious, and educational. In 1835 the 
Municipal Reform Act was passed, which radically altered 
local government. Hitherto, the city councils had been 
bodies either self-perpetuating or chosen by a limited 
number of specially privileged persons known as "free- 
men." These municipal oligarchies had become notori- 
ously inefficient and corrupt, and they were abolished by 
the Act of 1835. In their place councils were established 
which were chosen by the rate-payers, 1 who were practically 
the same men that voted in parliamentary elections. 

Another great reform was the abolition of slavery. In 
the British West Indies there were many negro slaves on 
Abolition the coffee and sugar plantations. As a conse- 
of slavery quence of an anti-slavery agitation led by 
William Wilberforce and Zachary Macaulay, the father of 

1 In England local taxes are known as "rates." 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 63 

the historian, a law had been passed in 1806 abolishing the 
slave trade. The reformers were indignant at the existence 
of human slavery under the British flag, and induced Par- 
liament, in 1833, to pass a law abolishing slavery through- 
out the Empire. The slave-owners were mollified by being 
given an indemnity of about one hundred million dollars. 

During the same year a famous parliamentary report on 
the Poor Law recommended a radical revision of the laws 
regarding pauperism. In 1834 Parliament enacted R e f orm { 
a law which limited outdoor relief to aged and th e Poor 
infirm paupers. It also established a new sys- 
tem of administration by dividing the country into districts 
which elected boards of guardians to take charge of the 
administration of the Poor Law. The new measure gave 
general satisfaction, for its main purpose was to discourage 
pauperism. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there ap- 
peared in England a new attitude toward the criminal 
which was an eloquent testimony to the spirit prison 
of the Age of Reform. By many it was felt that reform 
the harshness of the criminal code in holding life cheap and 
property dear, far from discouraging crime, was a direct 
incitement to it: a man might as well be hanged for com- 
mitting murder as for stealing a trifling sum of money. A 
reform of the criminal code had long been advocated 
by Jeremy Bentham, the radical reformer, and by John 
Wesley, the founder of Methodism. But it was Sir Samuel 
Romilly, a distinguished member of Parliament, who began 
a tireless agitation for this reform. His efforts were con- 
tinually frustrated by conservative persons, particularly 
the judges, who feared that a modification of the code would 
lead to the spread of crime. In 1820 Sir Samuel induced 
Parliament to make the first breach in the Draconian laws: 
it abolished the death penalty for stealing five shillings or 
more from a shop. Two years later more offenses were 
exempted from the death penalty, and Parliament con- 
tinued to moderate the legal code until, by the laws of 1861, 
only murder, piracy, and treason remained capital crimes. 



64 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Large, airy prisons were built to house the criminals, 
who were now to be treated in a spirit of compassion and 
not in a spirit of vengeance. Contrary to general expecta- 
tions, crime, instead of increasing, diminished. 

The introduction of cheap postage was another achieve- 
ment of the reformers. The charge for transmitting a letter 
The penny depended upon its size, shape, weight, and the 
post distance that it was carried ; the average cost of 

sending an ordinary letter in Great Britain was about six- 
pence, or twelve cents. Rowland Hill, a member of Parlia- 
ment, became an ardent advocate of cheap postage, and, 
in 1840, he prevailed upon Parliament to pass a law charg- 
ing a uniform rate of one penny to any part of the United 
Kingdom. The penny post proved a great success, because 
the great increase in the use of the mails more than made 
up for the lower charges. In 1898 the penny post was ex- 
tended to the entire British Empire. 

The remarkable spread of general education during the 
nineteenth century has well-nigh abolished illiteracy, at 
Educational one time almost universal. Until well along in 
reform j- ne nineteenth century, the mass of English 

people could neither read nor write; only the upper and 
middle classes had any degree of education. The first 
attempt to abolish illiteracy was through the Factory Act 
of 1802, which required that apprentices should be sent to 
school for part of the time; but the law was generally 
evaded by the employers, who were more anxious that their 
employees should be in the factory than in the school. Pop- 
ular education found a champion in Lord Brougham, who 
introduced two bills, one in 181 5 and another in 1820, with 
that in view, but both were defeated. Finally, in 1833, 
Parliament voted an annual grant of one hundred thousand 
dollars to be distributed among the voluntary schools, 
most of which were managed by religious societies. Al- 
though the grant was increased from time to time, this 
system of state aid to private schools was found to be 
unsatisfactory, as it tended to promote sectarian rivalries 
in education, to the injury of the schools. In 1858 Parlia- 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 65 

ment appointed a Royal Commission to make a thorough 
inquiry into the state of popular education. The report of 
this Commission recommended many changes and espe- 
cially urged the establishment of a system of national 
secular schools to be supported by local taxation. 

A great agitation for factory reform was started by 
philanthropic people who were shocked at the cruelty of 
industrial life, particularly as it affected women Factory 
and children. Chief of these factory reformers reform 
was a prominent aristocrat, the Earl of Shaftesbury, whose 
unselfish and tireless devotion to the cause of the wretched 
mill -workers entitles him to a great place among modern 
humanitarians. Something had already been done by the 
Act of 1802, which limited the hours of labor to twelve, 
prohibited night work, and required the mill-owners to 
furnish more beds in the factory dormitories. But that 
law had applied only to the pauper children working in the 
cotton factories. 

The most bitter opposition to factory reform came from 
the manufacturers, most of whom were Liberals in politics. 
John Bright, the "people's friend," declared Opposition 
that such legislation would be "most injurious of the man- 
and destructive to the best interests of the 
country," and was "a delusion practiced on the working 
classes which would lead to retaliation on the part of the 
employers." The great economists of the day, like Ricardo 
and Mai thus, were stanch believers in the doctrine of 
laissez faire, and they denounced the proposed reforms as 
a violation of "the liberty of the subject" and of "the 
freedom of contract," which guaranteed to every individual 
the right to make any terms without interference by the 
State. Fear was also expressed by the manufacturers that 
factory reform would prove so expensive to them that they 
would be unable to compete with their foreign rivals, who 
then had no such burdens. 

Many aristocrats took up the cause of factory reform, 
partly because they were sincerely desirous of improving 
the lot of the workers, and partly because the burden of 



66 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the reforms would fall on the manufacturers, whom they 
Factory Act cordially disliked. Accordingly, the Conserva- 
of 1833 tives supported the reformers, Lord Shaftesbury, 

Robert Owen, Richard Oastler, and William Cobbett, and 
Parliament was induced to pass the first great Factory Law 
in 1833, which has been characterized as the Magna Charta 
of labor. The law prohibited the employment in the textile 
factories of children under nine; it restricted the labor of 
children between the ages of nine and thirteen to forty- 
eight hours a week, and of those between thirteen and 
eighteen to sixty-eight hours; it prohibited night work to 
those under eighteen; it provided for a system of factory 
inspection; and it established schools for the child laborers. 1 
A parliamentary investigation committee horrified the 
country by a report on conditions of labor in the mines, 
and a law was passed in 1842 forbidding the employment 
in the mines of boys under ten and of women and girls. In 
1847 Parliament took a* most radical step in passing the 
famous Ten-Hour Act, which limited the labor of women 
and children in the textile factories to ten hours a day. 
This law encountered the bitterest opposition of the manu- 
facturers, and John Bright, the stout upholder of the doc- 
trine of laissez faire, declared that it was "one of the worst 
measures ever passed in the shape of an act of the legisla- 
ture." Further legislation, enacted in 1846, 1861, and 1867, 
extended the principles of factory reform very widely, to the 
great benefit of the working class who, otherwise, might 
have sunk to a condition of degeneracy. 

Political History (1832-67) 

The Reform Bill of 1832 completely transformed the two 
historic political parties. Both took new names, advocated 
The new new principles, and found new leaders. The 
ers?and ea " Tories became the Conservatives, in theory still 
principles committed to the aristocratic ideals of society 
and of government, but in practice ready to accommodate 

1 Five years after the passing of this law, the number of child laborers 
decreased from 56,000 to 24,000. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 67 

themselves to the new conditions in political life. The 
Whigs became the Liberals, the champions of reform and of 
progress, but with due regard to the traditional English 
way of making substantial changes without undermining 
the cherished institutions of the country. During the first 
half of the nineteenth century, the dominant political fig- 
ures were, among the Liberals, Lords Melbourne, Russell, 
and Palmerston, and among the Conservatives, Sir Robert 
Peel and the Earl of Derby, all of whom recognized the 
necessity of broadening the institutions of England in 
response to the new spirit of reform which had arisen. They 
were, however, strongly opposed to universal suffrage, 
which was then regarded as revolutionary; they consid- 
ered the lower classes unfit to exercise political power. 
Lord John Russell, who was chiefly instrumental in passing 
the Reform Bill, regarded that measure as a "finality," 
and he was consequently averse to any change that would 
undermine the political structure erected in 1832. It was 
not till Gladstone and Disraeli appeared that the Liberals 
and Conservatives were willing to take further steps toward 
democracy. 

In 1837 King William IV died and he was succeeded by 
his niece, Victoria, then a young girl of eighteen. During 
the years of her long reign (1 837-1901) "the Queen 
Queen," as she was affectionately called by her Vlctona 
subjects, occupied a unique place in the life of England. 
She was very careful not to overstep the constitutional 
limits of an English monarch; * yet, indirectly, she exerted 
a powerful influence on the conduct of affairs. Queen 
Victoria generally insisted upon being consulted in im- 
portant matters, and more than once her good sense pre- 
vented the adoption of rash and partisan policies. Her 
marriage to Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg, in 1840, was 
one of affection, and the happy royal pair became the 
models of domestic virtue to millions of English men and 
women. 

Lord Melbourne, who was Prime Minister from 1835 

1 See p. 324. 



68 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to 1 841, was a great favorite of the Queen because of his 
Lord charm of manner and of his assiduous attention 

Melbourne ^o ^ er w i sneSt His Ministry's most important 
achievements were the Municipal Reform Act and the es- 
tablishment of the penny post. A rebellion in Canada led 
the Ministry to send Lord Durham to investigate the situa- 
tion, and his recommendations resulted in the establish- 
ment of responsible government in Canada. 1 

The Ministry of Sir Robert Peel (1841-46) is one of the 
most notable in the history of modern England. Peel was 
Sir Robert a Conservative of the new school, one who was 
Peel willing to harmonize Tory principles with the 

new political conditions established by the Reform Bill. 
He was cautiously progressive in the best traditions of 
English statesmanship, "a complete Briton" as he was 
admiringly called, for he exercised a liberalizing influence 
on his own party and a moderating one on the radical re- 
formers who opposed him. Peel was an able administrator 
and fine debater, but utterly lacking in imaginative quali- 
ties; hence he did not possess the greatest elements of states- 
manship. Although few men were more highly esteemed in 
his day, he was destined to be driven out of office and out 
of his party because of his championship of free trade. 

England entered the nineteenth century a modern in- 
dustrial nation, but encumbered with seventeenth and 
Restrictions eighteenth century economic policies, which did 
on trade much to hamper her industrial development. 
The Navigation Laws, which had been in existence since 
1 65 1, created a protected monopoly for British shipping 
by forbidding the transportation of goods in foreign ves- 
sels between parts of the British Empire. Only British sub- 
jects could be employed as seamen on board British ships. 
Bounties were given on exports to encourage selling to the 
foreigner, and high tariffs were imposed on imports to dis- 
courage Englishmen from buying from him. England, it was 
thought, would benefit both ways and so prosper greatly. 

These views of trade were attacked by Adam Smith, 

1 See p. 408. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 69 

whose book, The Wealth of Nations, exerted a profound 
influence on scholars and on statesmen. Adam 
Smith advocated the abolition of all artificial 
restrictions and encouragements to trade and the adop- 
tion of the policy of free trade, by which he meant that 
foreign and native- goods should compete equally in the 
home market. Free trade would (1) stimulate the native 
producer to greater enterprise and ingenuity in order to 
compete successfully with the foreigner, and (2) encour- 
age the various nations to produce only those things for 
which they were best fitted: England, for example, would 
specialize in cotton goods, woolens, and hardware; France, 
in silks, wines, and laces; Russia, in agriculture, lumber, 
and furs. In this way the world would benefit by getting 
the best products at the lowest cost. 

The heaviest protective duties in Great Britain were those 
on corn, or breadstuff's, like wheat, barley, rye, and oats. 
In defense of the Corn Laws, as they were The Corn 
called, it was argued that every encouragement Laws 
should be given to the nation to produce its own food, that 
agriculture gave employment to many, and that rural life 
sustained the stamina of a nation. As the landed aristocracy 
was then in control of the Government, the Corn Laws were 
zealously and rigorously enforced. In 181 5 a law was passed 
prohibiting absolutely the importation of foreign corn un- 
til the price of the home product rose to a point which 
enabled the British farmer to compete with the foreigner. 
As many protested against this artificial method of keeping 
up the price of bread, a sliding scale was adopted in 1828 
which provided for lowering duties when prices rose and 
raising them when prices fell. 

An attack on the protective system was made by Wil- 
liam Huskisson, who became President of the Board of 
Trade in 1823. Through his influence Parlia- Repea i f 
ment was induced to repeal some of the Naviga- the Naviga- 

T , , _ .. . , . tion Laws 

tion Laws; and by 1849 foreign ships were put on 

the same footing as English ships. Huskisson made further 

inroads on the protective system by abolishing the duty on 



70 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

silk and lowering it on wool, but the Corn Laws remained 
intact. 

In 1838 Richard Cobden and John Bright founded the 
famous Anti-Corn Law League, which began an energetic 
Th A t" propaganda in favor of free trade. Cobden was 
Corn Law a brilliant writer and organizer who gave his 
eague fortune and services freely to the cause which 

became his life's passion. England was flooded with Anti- 
Corn Law pamphlets which denounced protection as an 
economic evil, because it artificially raised the cost of 
food, and as a moral evil, because it incited nations to 
needless and fruitless rivalries, thereby causing wars. Free 
trade, it was claimed, by removing national barriers would 
promote international peace. Great mass meetings and 
banquets were held to protest against the "dear bread" 
maintained by a selfish landed aristocracy. The League 
received the powerful support of the manufacturers, who 
believed that if food were made cheaper, they would be 
enabled to pay lower wages; and, moreover, if foreign 
countries were permitted to send their food-stuffs free of 
duty to England they would buy more manufactured 
articles from her. They also favored free trade in industrial 
products as they had little fear of foreign competition, 
England being so much further advanced industrially; 
moreover, they would be enabled to get their raw material 
at lower cost. In this way the free-traders were able "to 
combine comparatively selfish class interests with other 
motives springing from philanthropy and patriotism, a 
combination which tended to give them that combination 
of moral fervor, efficient organization, and shrewd politi- 
cal tactics, which made the Anti-Corn Law League one of 
the most effective organizations which has ever taken part 
in British political history. Neither money nor ability 
was wanting." l 

In 1845 the potato crop in Ireland was ruined by the 
"blight," or potato disease, which meant starvation for 
thousands of Irish peasants for whom the potato was the 

1 G. Slater, The Making of Modern England, p. 140. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 71 

chief article of food. At the same time the English grain 
crop proved unexpectedly bad. The free-traders p . , 
seized the opportunity to demand the repeal the pro- 
of the Corn Laws, in order to facilitate the im- tectlonists 
portation of cheap food for the starving Irish. Sir Robert 
Peel was a protectionist, but the seriousness of the situa- 
tion forced him to change front. In 1846 he carried through 
Parliament the repeal of the Corn Laws, and so gave the 
death-blow to the protective system in England. The pro- 
tectionists were furious. Benjamin Disraeli came forward 
as their champion in a speech bitterly attacking Peel. 
For the time being the Conservative Party was rent in 
twain by the action of Peel, but it was later reorganized 
under the leadership of Disraeli and the Earl of Derby. 
fe Free trade was not entirely established until 1867, when 
Parliament, through the efforts of Gladstone, removed the 
last of the protective duties. A tariff on tobacco, tea, sugar, 
and spirits was, however, maintained, but for purposes of 
revenue only. 

The Ministry of Lord John Russell (1846-52) witnessed 
the culmination of a revolutionary movement known 
as "Chartism." The Great Reform Bill had _, 

. .. . . Chartism 

proved a bitter disappointment to the working 
classes, who had hoped to see universal suffrage established. 
It was they who had suffered imprisonment, exile, and 
death for the cause of reform which, they realized, bene- 
fited mainly the middle classes. The workingmen felt that 
they had been cheated out of the fruits of the victory 
that their efforts had largely won, and they smarted with 
disappointment. Unlike the French, who had had a similar 
experience in the July Revolution of 1830, the English 
workingmen were not converted to violent revolution as 
a method of establishing their rights, partly because of 
their conservative temperament, but chiefly because they 
had just seen a great change accomplished through peace- 
ful agitation. Instead, a radical democratic movement 
known as "Chartism " began to make rapid headway among 
the unenfranchised. In the year 1838 the People's Charter 



72 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

was drawn up and enthusiastically acclaimed at great 
popular meetings held in Glasgow and in Birmingham. 
It demanded the famous Six Points: (i) universal manhood 
suffrage; (2) vote by secret ballot; (3) abolition of property 
qualifications for members of Parliament; (4) salaries for 
members of Parliament; (5) annual elections; and (6) a 
division of the country into equal electoral districts. 

This program, which would to-day be considered exceed- 
ingly moderate, excited the greatest apprehension among 
The Char- the governing classes, to whom democracy was 
tist Petition synonymous with anarchy. At first the "moral 
force" element among the Chartists, those who believed 
in peaceful agitation, was in the ascendant. Radical clubs 
were organized to conduct a democratic propaganda; 
monster processions andfrnsess meetings were held and im- 
passioned speeches were delivered. A gigantic petition, 
embodying the demands of the People's Charter, was 
presented to Parliament, first in 1839 an d again in 1842, 
but each time it was summarily rejected. This so discouraged 
many that the "physical force" element, or those who ad- 
vocated violent methods, got control under the leadership 
of Feargus O'Connor. 

The revolutionary movement of 1 848 gave great encour- 
agement to the Chartists, who organized a great convention, 
or People's Parliament, in London. Another petition de- 
manding the Charter, which was to be presented to Parlia- 
ment by a procession of half a million workingmen, was 
drawn up and subscribed to by about six million names, 
many of which were later proved to be fictitious. It was 
understood that if the petition was rejected an uprising 
would follow, as many of the Chartists were armed. The 
Government became greatly alarmed, and a special mili- 
tary force of seventeen thousand constables was organized 
and put under the command of the Duke of Wellington. 
The petition was rejected, and the street demonstrations 
which followed were ruthlessly suppressed. 

A Conservative Ministry came into power in 1852 with the 
Earl of Derby as Premier and Disraeli as Chancellor of the 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 73 

Exchequer. Although they had bitterly opposed the estab- 
lishment of free trade, the great prosperity that The Derby 
England was now enjoying convinced them of deenmfn- 
its benefits, and they consequently abandoned istries 
protection, which remained a dead issue in British politics 
for almost two generations. The Derby Ministry was in 
office but a short time, and was succeeded in 1852 by a 
Coalition Ministry headed by the Conservative, Lord Aber- 
deen, and the Liberal, Gladstone, who became Chancellor 
of the Exchequer. Although the Ministry took office with 
great promise, it aroused a storm of criticism because of its 
conduct of the Crimean War, 1 and it was overthrown in 

1855- 

The man who succeeded Peel as the leading figure in Eng- 
lish public life was Lord Palm#ston, who now became 
Prime Minister. If Peel was a liberal Conserva- _ . 

Palmerston 

tive, Palmerston was a conservative Liberal. 
His views on the domestic policies were exceedingly moder- 
ate, as he had little sympathy with the democratic move- 
ment of his day. His main interest was in foreign affairs, 
and he had been a most popular Foreign Minister in the 
Russell Cabinet. Strange as it may seem, Palmerston had 
a most lively sympathy with the democratic and nation- 
alistic movements abroad; and he was continually at odds 
with the Queen because of his anti-dynastic policy of en- 
couraging the revolutionary movements in Italy, Ger- 
many, and Hungary. Cavour and Kossuth found in him a 
stanch friend and admirer, but he was hated by the princes 
in Germany, who used to say that, 

" If the Devil has a son, 
His name is Palmerston." 

Palmerston was at the same time a vigorous upholder 
of British interests abroad, and on several occasions he 
gave utterance to "jingo" sentiments which greatly de- 
lighted his fellow countrymen, who were now awaken- 
ing to the necessity of England playing a great part in 

1 See p. 629. 



74 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

international affairs as well as in domestic reforms. The 
Prime Minister was temperamentally irrepressible and in- 
discreet, and frequently shocked and delighted his contem- 
poraries by blurting out his true sentiments about foreign 
affairs. During his first Ministry the Indian Mutiny took 
place, causing great anxiety in England. After it was sup- 
pressed, Parliament abolished the British East India Com- 
pany, and the government of India passed into the hands 
of the Crown. 1 

Palmerston was overthrown in 1858, but he came back 
to power in the following year. His new Ministry was com- 
The Amer- pelled to face the serious economic disturbance 
War dislo- occasioned by the American Civil War. Eng- 
cates Eng- land's prosperity depended to a considerable 

land s in- r r J x 

dustries degree on lw cotton manufactures, and she 

imported nearly all her cotton from America. When the 
South was blockaded, a cotton famine in England caused 
many of the factories to close, throwing thousands of men 
out of work and almost ruining many of the manufac- 
turers. Palmerston and his fellow ministers, notably Glad- 
stone and Russell, sided with the South and did every- 
thing they could to help her win. Southern privateers, the 
most famous of which was the Alabama, were built in Eng- 
land to prey on Northern commerce, and they destroyed 
the then flourishing American merchant marine. These 
privateers were sheltered and given every aid and encour- 
agement by the British Government. Although the upper 
classes favored the South, the great mass of the English 
people favored the North as the champion of freedom and 
democracy. The very operators who were thrown out of 
work by the cotton famine enthusiastically acclaimed the 
cause of the North. John Bright who, as a Quaker, had a 
burning hatred of slavery, became a most eloquent cham- 
pion of the North, and pleaded with his fellow country- 
men to give their support to those who were struggling to 
free the negro and to save the Union. 

England herself faced a political crisis during those 

1 See p. 402. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 75 

momentous years. Chartism had been suppressed, but 
the agitation for universal suffrage continued The agita- 
unabated. Political inequality in reformed Eng- r lon f ,°. r 

1 J => iranchise 

land was most glaring. When Lord John Rus- reform 
sell became Prime Minister for a second time, in 1865, 
only one man in five enjoyed the right to vote. The work- 
ing classes were learning the art of organization through 
their unions, and the spirit of discontent was being con- 
stantly stimulated by strikes. Leadership within the Lib- 
eral Party was passing from the hands of those who, like 
Russell and Palmerston, were satisfied with the political 
conditions established by the Reform Bill of 1832, to the 
hands of a younger and more progressive element repre- 
sented by Gladstone and Bright. 

Gladstone became the champion of franchise reform, 
and in 1866 he introduced a bill proposing to reduce the 
£10 franchise to one of £7; this was a moderate The Reform 
measure, as its enactment would have increased Bl11 of l867 
the electorate by only 400,000. The Conservatives were 
opposed to this bill, and with the aid of those Liberals who 
dreaded the coming of democracy, they succeeded in defeat- 
ing it. The Russell Ministry then resigned, and the Conserv- 
atives came into power with Lord Derby as Premier and 
Disraeli as leader in the Commons. It was naturally 
thought that a Conservative Ministry would be even less 
friendly to electoral reform than a Liberal one had been. 
A mass meeting in favor of universal suffrage was called 
in Hyde Park, London; but the Government, fearful of 
a possible uprising, forbade the assembly. In spite of this, 
however, a great throng of workingmen crowded to the 
place of meeting. When they arrived they found that it 
had been fenced off by the police who were there ready to 
receive them. This so infuriated the mob that they broke 
down the railings and stoned the police. As in 1832, the 
governing classes realized that the further withholding of 
reform might lead to revolution, and were disposed to make 
another concession to democracy. Disraeli, seeing that the 
extension of suffrage was now inevitable, determined "to 



76 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

dish the Whigs" by granting it himself. Under his leader- 
ship the Conservative Party, in 1867, passed the second 
great Reform Bill, which gave the vote in the boroughs to 
all householders irrespective of the value of their holding 
and to all lodgers who paid not less than fifty dollars (£10) 
a year for unfurnished rooms. The main purpose of this 
law being to give the vote to the working classes in the 
towns, only slight changes were made in the suffrage quali- 
fications of those living in the country. This sweeping 
measure raised the electorate from 1,353,000 to 2,243,000. 
It was denounced by conservative-minded Englishmen as 
"a leap in the dark" and as "shooting Niagara." The only 
class that now remained without the vote was the agricul- 
tural laborers. 

Industrial Progress 

To both nature and man is due the extraordinary de- 
velopment of British commerce and industry. An abun- 
Reasons for dance of coal and iron, 1 a good climate, fine har- 
England's bors, a long coast line, a large merchant marine, 
prospen y pj en ty f capital, and, above all, priority of 
invention, gave the English people overwhelming ad- 
vantages over all other nations in the race for economic 
supremacy. France was seriously handicapped by small 
quantities of coal and iron, the two pillars of modern in- 
dustry; Russia was rich in natural resources, but these, 
owing to a lack of capital, were undeveloped; America had 
both resources and capital, but she was devoting her 
energies to her enormous home market; and Germany was 
not yet in existence either as an economic or as a political 
factor. 

An era of railway building was opened up in England by 
the construction, in 1825, of the Stockton and Darlington 
Railway Railway, which was only forty miles long. In 
building 1830 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was 

built. This venture proved so successful that a "railway 

1 Between 1788 and 1839 the iron output of England increased from 61,000 
to 1,250,000 tons annually. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 77 

mania" set in, and England was in a short time covered 
with a network of railways which established a fine system 
of internal communication. 1 Owing to the widespread be- 
lief in the efficacy of competition, State ownership was not 
favored ; and many rival companies existed, causing waste- 
ful expenditures of labor and capital. During the forties 
efforts were made by the Government to regulate condi- 
tions and rates in the various railway systems. 

Steam navigation was a little slower in developing. In 
1839 the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company had only 
fourteen small steamers. The famous "P. and r 

Expansion 

O." (Peninsula and Oriental Steam Naviga- of the mer- 

. • r* \ t, -U ±. i_ chant marine 

tion Company) began by running steamers be- 
tween Falmouth and Lisbon, but soon extended its traf- 
fic to ports in Asia, Africa, and Australia. In 1840 the 
Cunard Line, aided by a government subsidy, began send- 
ing steamers across the Atlantic; and the Pacific Steam 
Navigation Company was organized for the trade with the 
western coast of South America. 

The period from 1840 to 1870 was the Golden Age of 
British commerce and industry. The repeal of the Naviga- 
r, , ,, tion Laws, the establishment of free trade, and 

England s , ' ' 

industrial the improvement in the means of transporta- 
supremacy t j Qn resu it ec j \ n an extraordinary expansion of 

business. By far the most important of England's indus- 
tries was the textile industry, and enormous quantities of 
cotton and woolen goods were exported to all parts of the 
world. 2 Foreign commerce was greatly stimulated by the 
Cobden treaty with France in i860, which established reci- 
procity between the two countries. 3 England had also de- 
veloped a great reexport business by distributing foreign 
and colonial goods to all parts of the world, so that she be- 
came the emporium as well as the workshop of the world. 

1 In 1874 there were about 16,500 miles of railways in the United Kingdom. 

2 In 1815 England imported 82,000,000 pounds of raw cotton, and in 1851, 
659,000,000 pounds, showing the advance of the cotton industry. 

3 At the beginning of the nineteenth century the total foreign trade, ex- 
cluding precious metals, was about $200,000,000, which rose in 1872 to about 
$3,000,000,000. 



78 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Shipbuilding became practically a British monopoly, and 
the world not only bought English goods, but had them 
transported in English vessels, which yielded a golden 
harvest to the English shipowners. 1 Profits multiplied 
very rapidly and wages, too, rose, but the cost of living, 
owing to free trade, remained low. The enormous sur- 
plus wealth produced in England was invested abroad in 
new industrial enterprises which brought handsome returns 
to the investors. Wealth was accumulating at a stagger- 
ing rate in the hands of the "captains of industry," so 
that even haughty aristocrats condescended to invest 
their money in "trade," which they had always affected to 
despise. 

In 1 85 1 the great Universal Exposition was opened at 
the Crystal Palace, London, under the patronage of Queen 
The Crystal Victoria. The products of commerce, industry, 
Palace and agriculture were shown to about six mil- 

lion visitors, who came from all parts of the 
world to learn from, to admire, and possibly to emulate, 
British industrial genius. England had arrived at the very 
zenith of her economic glory. 

Religious Reform 

As we have seen, there existed in England various de- 
grees of legal discrimination against those who were not 
Removal of members of the Established Church. The Dis- 
ties of S the h " senters increased rapidly in numbers owing to 
Dissenters the growth of the Methodist, or Wesleyan, 
Church, whose adherents came mainly from the middle 
classes, at this time rising in influence and importance. 
In 1828 Parliament removed the disabilities of the Non- 
conformists by repealing the Test and Corporation Acts. 
This was the beginning of the movement for religious 
equality in England, 
i To emancipate the Catholics was a much more difficult 
undertaking, partly because of the inherited hatred of 
Catholicism on the part of the English people, but chiefly 

1 Between 1821 and 1849 British shipping increased over 2500 per cent. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 79 

because the overwhelming majority of Catholics in the Brit- 
ish Isles were the Irish, a subject race. Religious c .. ,. 
emancipation of the Irish might lead to their emancipa- 
political and economic emancipation, a state of 
affairs then undesired by the dominant English. A wide- 
spread agitation was started in Ireland under the leadership 
of Daniel O'Connell, a remarkable orator and organizer, 
who formed the powerful Catholic Association to intim- 
idate the English Government into removing Catholic 
disabilities. O'Connell decided upon a plan for calling 
public attention to the iniquity of the anti-Catholic laws. 
Accordingly, in 1828, he became a candidate in an Irish 
constituency and was overwhelmingly elected; 1 but Par- 
liament refused to admit him on the ground that his elec- 
tion was contrary to the law which prohibited Catholics 
from entering Parliament. Immediately all .Ireland was 
astir. Huge mass meetings were held denouncing the ex- 
clusion of O'Connell, and the Catholic Association began 
an orderly though menacing agitation. In 1829 the fear of 
a possible Irish rebellion induced the Duke of Wellington, 
then Prime Minister, to carry the Catholic Emancipation 
Act through Parliament. O'Connell was reelected and al- 
lowed to take his seat, and Catholics were thereafter made 
eligible for nearly all public offices. However, the prop- 
erty qualifications for voting in Ireland were shortly after- 
wards raised, which had the effect of disfranchising many 
Catholics. 

The movement to emancipate the Jews encountered com- 
paratively little opposition for the reason that they were 
few in number. The House of Commons had j ew isheman- 
many times passed a bill to remove the disabili- cipation 
ties of the Jews, but each time it was rejected by the Lords. 
Jews were excluded from Parliament, not by any special law, 
but by the oath of allegiance which required a member of 
Parliament to swear to be loyal to Great Britain "on the 
faith of a Christian." A member of the Rothschild family, 

1 In 1793 Catholics had been given the right to vote, provided they had the 
required property qualifications. 



80 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

who had been elected to the House several times, was not 
permitted to take his seat because he had refused to take 
this oath. Finally, in 1858, Parliament passed the Jewish 
Relief Act, which changed the oath into one which Jews 
could conscientiously take. In spite of the removal of the 
religious disabilities of British citizens, religious equality 
was not yet attained for the reason that the special privi- 
leges of the Established Church continued in force. 

Within the Established Church, two significant tenden- 
cies appeared, the Oxford movement and Christian So- 
The Oxford cialism. The Oxford movement, so called be- 
movement cause it was initiated by a group of scholars 
in Oxford University, aimed to emphasize the medieval 
ideals of the Church as the center of all activity, the su- 
premacy of ecclesiastical ideals over all others, and the im- 
portance of ritual in service and holiness in life. In ont 
sense the Oxford movement was a reflection of the Romantic 
School in literature ; l in another, it was a reaction against 
the worldly bishops and "sporting parsons" in the Estab- 
lished Church, who scandalized devout people by their lack 
of devotion. A group of brilliant writers and thinkers, 
among them John Keble, the author of The Christian Year, 
John Henry Newman, the famous preacher and writer, and 
Dr. Pusey, the most eminent ecclesiastical scholar in Eng- 
land, began advocating their ideas in a series of pamphlets 
called Tracts for the Times. The Tractarians, as they were 
called, asserted the continuity of the Church of England 
from the days of Christ; hence, the separation from the 
Church of Rome, effected in the sixteenth century, did not 
make it any the less Catholic. Before long a trend toward 
Roman Catholicism became noticeable among the Tracta- 
rians, and the leader of the movement, Newman, was con- 
verted to the Roman Catholic faith in 1845. He was later 
created a cardinal. 

Under the able leadership of Cardinals Newman and 
Wiseman, a revival of Roman Catholicism took place, 
encouraging the Pope to reestablish the Catholic hier- 

1 See p. no. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 81 

archy, which had not been in existence in England since 
the days of the Protestant Revolution. Cardinal . Reestablish- 
Wiseman was made Archbishop of Westminster. ™ ent ° f the 
The Protestant feelings of the English people hierarchy in 
were now greatly aroused ; they seemed to see En s land 
in the action of the Pope a threat to destroy the Estab- 
lished Church and to subject England to Rome. Parliament, 
in 1 85 1, passed the Ecclesiastical Titles Act, forbidding 
any person to assume an ecclesiastical title already appro- 
priated by the Established Church. But the law immedi- 
ately became a dead letter, and the Catholic officials con- 
tinued to use their titles. 

Quite opposite to the medieval tendencies of the Trac- 
tarians were those of the Christian Socialists led by Charles 
Kingsley, the famous novelist and preacher, The c hr ; s _ 
Frederick Denison Maurice, the social reformer, tian Social- 
and Thomas Hughes, author of the Tom Brown 
stories. The Christian Socialists believed that if the 
world were ordered according to the teachings of Christ, 
poverty and its attendant evils would disappear; hence 
they became fervent preachers of social reform. Charles 
Kingsley was a stout advocate of labor unionism and sym- 
pathized with the Chartists in their demand for better con- 
ditions. His novel, Alton Locke, is a moving description of 
the conditions of the London tailors, whom grinding pov- 
erty had reduced to a state of misery, wretchedness, and 
hopelessness. The Christian Socialists busied themselves 
among the working class, founding trade unions, working- 
men's colleges, and social settlements; they were largely 
influential in laying the foundations of the great social 
reform movement that swept over England at the end of 
the nineteenth century. 

Romantic and Victorian Literature 

The first quarter of the nineteenth century witnessed 
the high tide of the Romantic school in English litera- 
ture. The period was especially rich in poetry, and the 
works of Shelley, Byron, Keats, Coleridge, and Words- 



82 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

worth have left an imperishable influence on English liter- 
Character- ature and life. Like those in France, the Eng- 
i5hRo- Eng ~ ^ s ^ Romanticists were deeply stirred by revo- 
manticism: lutionary feeling of which the lyrical outbursts 
tionary* "" of Shelley and Byron were typical expressions, 
fervor Even the calm and retiring Wordsworth wrote 

of the French Revolution, — 

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, 
But to be young was very heaven! " 

During the period of reaction that followed the Battle of 
Waterloo, revolutionary sentiments were frowned upon in 
England as elsewhere; both Byron and Shelley found their 
native land unresponsive to their message, and they lived 
in exile during the latter part of their lives. 

Another characteristic of the English Romanticists was 
their love of nature. It might almost be said that they dis- 
(2) love of covered nature, as the writers before them had 
nature rarely appreciated either the charms or the ter- 

rors of field, stream, sea, and mountain. It was the aim of 
the Romanticists not merely to describe nature, but to 
interpret her moods and to show her various aspects in order 
that man might find himself in greater sympathy with the 
universe. Byron expressed his temperament by vividly 
describing the picturesque and the grand, such as the sea 
and mountain; Wordsworth, by pensive musings on the 
more quiet aspects, the shady nook and the gentle hili. 

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1 792-1822) was aflame with the 
spirit of revolt. His greatest poem, Prometheus Unbound, 
is an apotheosis of revolution, in which he de- 
scribes how the god Prometheus, the "friend of 
man," was chained to a mountain by Jove, who personifies 
conservatism, and how he is finally released by the spirit 
of revolution. In grace, melody, and sheer, loveliness, 
Shelley's lyrics are unsurpassed. So refined and delicate are 
his sentiments, so insatiate is his craving for the "Spirit of 
Beauty," and so generous is his sympathy for the unfortu- 
nate, that Shelley has come to embody the ideal in its 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 83 

revolt against the gross, the stupid, and the reactionary 
forces of the world. Although he died at the age of thirty, 
he is regarded as the supreme genius of English lyric poetry. 
The poetry of Lord Byron (1 788-1 824) is characterized 
by great virility, intense passion, and hostility to accepted 
ideas and institutions. He excels in magnificent _ 

■ 1 1 1 Byron 

descriptions of scenery and in oratorical decla- 
mation, which are, however, frequently marred by tawdry 
bombast. Byron's life, like his poetry, was stormy. Having 
roused the hostility of his countrymen by flouting their 
social conventions, he was perforce exiled for the remainder 
of his life, and died aiding the Greeks in their revolution 
against Turkey. Byron's popularity as a poet was so great 
that a Byronic cult grew up which glorified romantic revolt 
against narrow conventions. Byronic influence on the Con- 
tinent was widespread. 

John Keats (1 795-1 821), like Shelley, was a seeker after 
the beautiful, and not even the latter was more devoted to 
the ideals of beauty, pure and undefiled. For 
Keats, poetry existed for its own sake, and he 
held himself aloof from the world of men, things, and 
"problems" in order to devote himself to his muse. His 
poems are perfect models of grace and exquisite loveliness. 
His death at the age of twenty-five cut short a most promis- 
ing poetic genius. 

Quite different in temperament from his contemporaries 
was Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1 772-1 834). Although he 
wrote very few poems, these have been consid- _ , ., 

• 1 r n Coleridge 

ered masterpieces because of their almost flaw- 
less mechanism and enchanting melody. His themes are 
romantic, mysterious, weird. His best-known poem, Rime 
of the Ancient Mariner, tells the story of a phantom ship 
sailed by a crew of dead men, and contains wonderful pas- 
sages, the product of a rich imagination and a strange mysti- 
cism. Coleridge is famous also as a literary critic and 
philosopher. But it is as a poet of regions beyond the earth 
and of dreams beyond the heavens that he is best remem- 
bered. No English writer succeeded as he did in making the 
supernatural seem natural. 



84 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Romantic Movement reached high tide in 1798 when 
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and his friend Coleridge 
published the Lyrical Ballads, of which the 
Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the most no- 
table. A second edition of this remarkable volume, printed 
in 1800, contained a prose preface in which Wordsworth 
laid down a new theory of verse in which he pleaded for 
freedom of rhyme and simplicity of diction. 

Wordsworth is generally held to be one of England's 
greatest nature poets. To him, Nature had a conscious soul 
expressing itself in the daisy, the cloud, or the skylark's 
song, and responding to the moods of men and women as 
plainly and intelligently as one human voice responds to 
another. His lifelong aim was to reveal the significance 
hidden in the commonplace, for he believed that the supreme 
function of the imagination was to dignify simple people, 
places, and incidents; hence, his poems contain no striking 
themes or personalities and are free from embellishments. 
There is another note in Wordsworth's poetry, duty, the 
"Stern Daughter of the Voice of God," rather a strange one 
for a Romanticist; he apostrophizes the common virtues 
as he does the common things. Although unsurpassed at 
his best, Wordsworth is often dull, tedious, and common- 
place. 

Sir Walter Scott (1 771-1832) stands out as the leading, 
and one might say the only, great prose writer among the 
English Romanticists. He was to a large degree 
the creator of the historical novel, wherein his- 
tory furnishes the background for fiction; the author tries 
to reproduce the past partly by introducing some historical 
characters and incidents, but mainly by faithful attention 
to the spirit of the period about which he is writing. Scott 
was a master in the art of invoking bygone ages, and he actu- 
ally succeeded in making history more real by clothing it 
with fiction. Unlike his fellow English Romanticists, Scott 
was exceedingly conservative. He chose the Middle Ages 
for his favorite field, as he delighted to describe picturesque 
characters, such as kings, knights, ladies, crusaders, clans- 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 85 

men, pirates, and gypsies. No one has ever excelled Scott 
in the power of vividly portraying romantic characters and 
stirring incidents, and he quickly became the most popular 
novelist in the English language. He was also a fervent lover 
of his country, Scotland, whose history and legends he 
knew intimately; Scotland became the theme of many of 
his novels and poems. Scott's most famous works are 
Ivanhoe, which deals with Norman England, The Talisman, 
which deals with the crusades, and Old Mortality, which 
deals with Scotland in the days of the Covenanters. 

Two remarkable essayists flourished at the beginning of 
the nineteenth century. A strange, almost uncanny writer 
was Thomas de Quincey (1 785-1 859), whose De Quincey 
mystical and eccentric essays would have per- and Lamb 
ished long ago had it not been for the extraordinary pre- 
cision and stateliness of his style which placed him among 
the masters of English prose. Charles Lamb (1 775-1 834) 
succeeded in turning the English essay into a "fine art." 
Full of quaint charm, delicious humor, and delicate irony, 
Lamb has been a never-failing source of delight to many 
readers down to this day. 

The period from about 1840 to the end of the nineteenth 
century is designated in English literature as the Victorian 
Age, in honor of Queen Victoria, whose long character- 
reign was so notable in the history of the British ^tics of the 

11 • .1 Victorian 

people. As we have already seen, it was a period Age: (1) 
of great prosperity, of social unrest, of humani- Morallt >' 
tarian reforms, and of democratic advance. For many cen- 
turies social ideals had been largely fashioned by the upper 
classes; now that the middle classes had at last come into 
power, there came with them new ideals of personal and 
social conduct, which quickly found expression in the liter- 
ature of the day. Moral purpose dominates much if not all 
of the writing of the Victorian Age. Art was practiced for 
morality's sake. The new writers produced novels, poems, 
dramas, histories, and essays, primarily as aids to bet- 
ter thinking and better living, and incidentally as works of 
art. Dickens, Thackeray, and George Eliot wrote novels 



86 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

not only to "adorn a tale," but especially "to point a 
moral"; Browning wrote poems to edify and instruct his 
readers; Macaulay wrote history with a "purpose," to show 
why the Whigs were right and the Tories wrong; Carlyle 
wrote biographies of heroes as the embodiment of the 
"eternal verities" ; and to Ruskin, painting itself was a form 
of moral expression. 

The progress of popular education and the establishment 
of cheap magazines and newspapers created a new and vast 
(2) Democ- reading public. Writers were forced to cater to 
racy a wider and more varied demand, and as a result 

literature became more democratic; it began to concern 
itself with the problems of humble people; it searched for 
comedy or tragedy in the daily routine of the masses; it 
became a passionate advocate of social and political reform. 

Another striking characteristic of the Victorian Age was 
the great role that science played in the affairs of mankind. 
, . c . The wonderful discoveries of the inventors and 

the writings of the great scientists, like Dar- 
win and Huxley, exercised a profound influence, directly 
and indirectly, upon imaginative literature. The idea of 
evolution was constantly made use of by the novelists ; and 
the theme of some of the greatest poems was the origin and 
destiny of man in the light of evolution. 1 

A truly great and representative Victorian was Lord 
Macaulay (1800-59), the historian and essayist. No man 
had the faculty of investing history with dra- 
matic power so wonderfully as Macaulay, whose 
History of England remains to this day one of the most pop- 
ular books in the English language. Macaulay is a pano- 
ramic rather than a philosophic historian; he gives graphic 
pictures of the exterior of human society, but seldom sees 
the great underlying causes of human affairs. Brilliance of 
style, vividness of narrative, and a luxuriant imagination 
combine to make him one of the great writers of English 
prose. 

Thomas Carlyle (1 795-1 881) was the great censor of the 

1 See p. 612. 



THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND 87 

Victorian Age. It was a thrilling message that this Scotch 
philosopher, historian, and biographer preached 

1 • , • a ) • 1 Carlyle 

to his generation. A man s prime duty was to 
recognize the hero qualities, to tear away shams, and to 
pierce the only reality, the inner spirit. He denounced in 
prophet-like language the materialism and selfishness of his 
time, and attempted to demonstrate that the new industrial- 
ism had made a "swine's trough" of the world by estab- 
lishing only a "cash nexus" between man and man. Carlyle, 
however, had no faith in democracy, for his ideal govern- 
ment was one by an aristocracy of talent. His influence 
upon his own and succeeding generations was of the pro- 
foundest, and he may be justly regarded as one of the spir- 
itual makers of modern England. His most famous books 
are Sartor Resartus, a series of philosophic essays in the form 
of an imaginary biography; The French Revolution, a highly 
dramatic but unbalanced study of the movement; and 
Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, a unique biography 
of the great Protector. 

The three great novelists of the Victorian Age were 
Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and 
George Eliot. Of these, Charles Dickens (1812- „. . 

xi 1 11 • 1 Dickens 

70) was the most popular and the most typical 
representative of the spirit of the times. Few authors have 
been able to combine humor and pathos so successfully as 
Dickens; and generations of English-speaking people have 
laughed and cried over his pages. He is above all a social- 
reform novelist, and his attacks on charity schools, law 
courts, and workhouses led to beneficent reforms in those 
institutions. Dickens was the first to introduce the poor 
and the degraded of industrial England into literature, and 
he succeeded in arousing the widest sympathies for the un- 
fortunate classes of society. His most famous books are 
David Copper field, considered by many his masterpiece; 
A Tale of Two Cities, a historical novel of the French Revo- 
lution; Pickwick Papers, a. rollicking tale of the adventures 
of a unique character; and Oliver Twist, an exposure of the 
suffering of the poor in the workhouses. 



88 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

» 
Quite different from Dickens was William Makepeace 

Thackeray (1811-63), the novelist of the elegant world. 
The latter's smooth style, delicate wit, and 
urbanity contrast sharply with the rollicking 
humor and grotesqueness of Dickens. Thackeray was essen- 
tially a satirist who delighted to expose the foibles of the 
great, and for that reason his work has sometimes been 
called "a whispering-gallery of scandal." But he was a 
satirist touched with emotion, for it is his habit to take his 
readers aside in order to preach to them little private ser- 
mons on the evils of mankind. His most famous works are 
Henry Esmond, a historical novel of the eighteenth century; 
Vanity Fair, in which the famous character Becky Sharp 
appears; Pendennis, a satire on society; and The Newcomes, 
a study of a lovable character, Colonel Newcome. 

Mary Ann Evans (1819-80), known to the world by the 
pen-name of George Eliot, is the novelist of the middle 
George classes as Dickens is of the lower, and Thack- 

Ehot era y Q f t ] ie U pp er classes. She was essentially a 

philosopher, and her novels are searching studies of human 
character and motives. An ethical atmosphere pervades all 
her books which, were it not for the author's supreme art, 
would be mere moral tracts. George Eliot took particular 
delight in analyzing her characters psychologically in order 
to discover the hidden springs of good and evil. Although 
not so popular as Dickens or Thackeray, she continues to 
hold a great place in English literature. Her most famous 
works are Silas Marner, a story of a poor weaver; Middle- 
march, an ethical problem novel; Adam Bede, a charming 
picture of country life ; and Romola, a historical novel of the 
Italian Renaissance. 



CHAPTER VI 

DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 

1815-52 

Conservative and Radical Elements in French Society 

The French Revolution had left a memory which never 
could be effaced, the stirring tale of a successful revolt 
against monarchs, classes, and conditions. It T a , 

' ' m Influence 01 

had uprooted nearly all the inherited traditions the French 
of the land and, indeed, had enthroned revolu- 
tion itself as an established tradition. As a consequence 
there was engendered among the people a spirit of resistance 
to oppression, which was later to overturn the thrones of 
kings and of emperors and, at times, to threaten the social 
order itself. Even though the restored Louis XVIII sat on 
the throne of his ancestors, the old system of society, the 
ancien regime, with its semi-serfdom, political despotism, 
special privileges, and religious intolerance, was gone never 
to return. However, the work of the Revolution was not 
yet completed ; it was as much a promise for the future as a 
notable achievement of the past; in a broad, general way, 
it indicated the line of progress along which France and the 
rest of Europe were to travel for the next century. But the 
deep wounds inflicted by the Revolution on the conserva- 
tive elements of French society embittered the latter into 
becoming reactionary; hence the history of France during 
the nineteenth century is the story of a struggle between 
those who wished to fulfill the promise of the French Revo- 
lution and those who sought to restore the old order, or, at 
least, to keep the revolutionary spirit chained to what it 
already had accomplished. 

On one or the other side of this dividing line, the various 
elements in France ranged themselves according to their 
interests and ideals. On the conservative side were natur- 
ally the aristocrats, who, however, exercised but little influ- 



90 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ence over the nation because they had been shorn of prop- 
Conserva- erty and privilege by the Revolution. In fact, 

tive forces t- , • , , 1 • i 

in French ^ rench aristocracy became a mere name which 
society meant little or nothing; the nobles of the ancien 

regime had been guillotined or discredited by treason dur- 
ing the Revolutionary wars, and the new ones created by 
Napoleon and later by Louis Philippe were of too recent 
origin to elicit much respect. Far stronger as a conserva- 
tive force was the Roman Catholic Church, which feared the 
establishment of a democratic republic because that form 
of government was favored by its enemies, the partisans 
of the French Revolution. In spite of the fact that ration- 
alism and free thought were widespread among all classes 
of society, the bulk of the French people remained Christian 
and Catholic, and conservatism found in the Church a most 
powerful support. But the rock against which revolution- 
ary movements of the nineteenth century dashed in vain 
was the peasant. Once the Revolution had freed him from 
feudal dues and services and established him as a propri- 
etor of the land which he cultivated, the peasant became 
a stanch supporter of conservative policies; and the influ- 
ence of the great mass of peasant proprietors has more than 
once decided the fate of governments, parties, and dynasties 
in France. Along with the spirit of innovation engendered 
by the Revolution there was the tradition of military glory 
associated with the name of Napoleon. Frenchmen could 
not easily forget the time when the tricolor had waved 
triumphantly on the great battle fields of modern times. 
It needed but a phrase, a book, a "legend" to rekindle in 
France the desire for military conquest. "The man on 
horseback" remained an appealing figure to the imagina- 
tion of Frenchmen despite his having frequently trod on 
principles very dear to them. 

The mainstay on the radical side was the bourgeoisie, or 
Radical middle class. The disappearance of the landed 

French" 1 aristocracy had left them masters of the field, 
society with power out of all proportion to their number 

or to their wealth. As heirs of the great Revolution, they 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 91 

generally favored a democratic suffrage, a republican form 
of government, separation of Church and State, and free- 
dom of thought. Another and far more radical element 
made its appearance as a result of the introduction of the 
factory system, namely, the working class, of which we 
shall speak later. In addition, there was the small but 
powerful group of philosophers, poets, artists, novelists, 
and dramatists who, in France, have exercised a profound 
influence on public affairs. These "intellectuals," inheriting 
the revolutionary traditions of the great philosophers of 
the eighteenth century, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and 
Montesquieu, nearly always allied themselves with the 
radical elements of the nation. 

The Industrial Revolution 

While the statesmen and monarchs of the Restoration 
Period were confidently planning to restore the old system 
of government and society, there was taking Reasons for 
place in the life of the people on the Continent r r ^ nce '. s . 
that silent change known as the Industrial backward- 
Revolution which was to render all their plans ness 
abortive. In England conditions were favorable to the 
growth of industry; in France, the reverse was true. In the 
first place, the latter country did not possess in sufficient 
quantities the essentials of the factory system, coal and 
iron; secondly, there was no over-supply of cheap labor, 
because peasant proprietorship was the inducement that 
operated to prevent an exodus of the country folk to the 
cities; thirdly, the great drain in men and money during the 
Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars depleted the requisite 
supply of labor and capital. The Industrial Revolution in 
France was, consequently, neither so rapid nor so wide- 
spread as in England. At the beginning of the nineteenth 
century the domestic system was still in full bloom, and it 
was not till the middle of the century that the foundations 
of the new industrial era were laid. 

In England, as we have seen, the manufacturers devoted 
themselves by the force of circumstances to the production 



92 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of textiles and iron and steel goods, the every-day necessi- 
The silk ties of life; in France, on the contrary, and for 

industry similar reasons, the staples of industry were 
silk and wine, the luxuries of life. Cartwright's loom gave 
immediate impetus to the establishment of the factory sys- 
tem in England; but a similar invention in France, the 
famous Jacquard loom for the rapid weaving of complex 
patterns in silk (1804), had no such immediate influence on 
the establishment of the factory system in that country; 
artisans continued to spin and weave silk cloth in their 
homes. Notwithstanding the retarded development, the 
value of the product of the silk loom more than tripled 
during the first half of the nineteenth century. 

Machinery was imported from England in order to give 
French industry a start; and, about 1823, the power loom 
Introduction was established in the city of Mtilhausen, in 
of machinery Alsace, which became the cotton manufacturing 
town of France. Lille, because it was situated in the min- 
ing region and so was able to get coal quickly and cheaply, 
soon developed as an industrial city comparable to Man- 
chester and Leeds. Steam was introduced as a motive 
force between 1830 and 1840, much later than in England, 
chiefly because of the low output of coal. 

Although industrially backward, France was a wealthy na- 
tion because of her naturally rich soil and her splendid wine 
Rural districts. Rural industries were greatly aided 

industries ^y t ^ e manufacture of wines, liquors, brandies, 
and beet sugar. In 1846 more than half of the exports con- 
sisted of silks and wines. In general, it might be said that 
France imported raw materials, such as cotton, wool, and 
leather, and exported manufactured luxuries and agricul- 
tural products. 

In the matter of modern means of transportation, such 
as railways and steamboats, France was also backward. 
Transporta- During the two preceding centuries, it had de- 
veloped a fine system of roads and canals, but 
it was not until 1837 that a railway, only twelve miles long, 
was constructed. The first law regulating the construction 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 93 

of railways was adopted in 1842; it provided for the build- 
ing and operation of a comprehensive system of railways 
by private companies with the aid of government grants. 
Four years later, there were in operation over eleven hun- 
dred miles of railways, transporting annually about thir- 
teen million passengers and three and a half million tons 
of merchandise. Internal trade increased greatly, which en- 
abled the country to recover from the economic wounds 
left by the Napoleonic wars. The first transatlantic steam- 
ship line was established from Havre to New York in 1840. 
Protection was afforded to the merchant marine by legis- 
lation which provided for special taxes on goods carried in 
foreign vessels, and which forbade trade with French colon- 
ies in any but French ships. 

The general outcome of the Industrial Revolution in 
France was the same as that in England, which has already 
been described. In the former there were, how- special re- 
ever, special developments worthy of notice, suits of the 
One was the extreme radicalism of the industrial Revolution 
laborers. The traditions of the French Revolu- ln France 
tion inherited by the working class accentuated their hos- 
tility to capitalism, to which, almost from the very start, 
they threw down the gage of battle. Although few in num- 
ber and poorly organized, the French workingmen have 
ever been in the van of radicalism and an example to the 
laborers of other lands. Another was the strengthening of 
the power of the petite bourgeoisie, or lower middle class, 
who invested their savings in industrial enterprises both 
at home and abroad. In France numerous small investors, 
whose frugality and thrift enabled them to buy a few 
dearly prized shares of stock or government bonds, consti- 
tuted a power which was a near approach to a governing 
class. Kings, emperors, and even republics were apt to 
suffer swift destruction when they antagonized the interests 
of this numerous and influential class of small investors. 



94 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Restoration 

After the Battle of Waterloo the Allies once more tri- 
umphantly entered Paris, "carrying the Bourbons in their 
The Charter baggage." Louis XVIII was reseated on the 
of 1 8 14 throne from which he had been driven by Na- 

poleon after the latter's escape from Elba. In order to win 
the people to the new order, the King granted the nation, 
as a favor, a charter establishing constitutional government. 
This document remained in force with various modifica- 
tions till 1848. According to its provisions full executive 
authority was lodged in the monarch ; it empowered him to 
appoint officers, name the cabinet, direct foreign policies, 
veto bills, and dissolve parliament. There was estab- 
lished also a legislature of two houses, a hereditary Cham- 
ber of Peers and an elective Chamber of Deputies. Age 
and property were to insure conservatism in the latter 
body. A Deputy had to be at least forty years old and had 
to pay a minimum of two hundred dollars a year in direct 
taxes; and the suffrage was limited to citizens at least 
thirty years of age paying a minimum of sixty dollars a 
year in direct taxes. An aristocratic parliament, hardened 
by the spirit of Bourbon despotism, was the government 
instituted by the returned monarch. The social organiza- 
tion of France, however, remained Revolutionary, as the 
famous law of 1789 abolishing feudalism was not repealed; 
the administrative system organized by Napoleon was 
likewise accepted. To restore the structure of the ancien 
regime was impossible, for it would have meant the dis- 
location of French society which had now become firmly 
knit by the life of almost a generation born and reared 
under the new regime. What was restored was the spirit 
of pre- Revolutionary days, for the exiled nobles returned 
cherishing an undying hatred of democratic principles. 

Opposition to the King developed most strongly among 
the reactionaries led by a brother of Louis XVIII, the 
Count of Artois, a true Bourbon, "who never learned 
anything and never forgot anything." His party, known 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 95 

as the "Ultras," was more royalist than the King and was 
composed mainly of emigres and their adherents Moderation 
who thirsted to avenge their sufferings caused ?^ T " is 
by the Revolution and who wished to restore the 
old system of government and society. As long as Louis 
lived he generally held the Ultras in check, not because 
he lacked sympathy with their views, but rather because he 
saw the folly of trying to restore the ancien regime. As he 
himself once declared, the throne was "the easiest of chairs," 
and, like King Charles II, he had no wish " to go on his trav- 
els" once more. Nevertheless, an increase in the number of 
the Left, or radical side of the Chamber of Deputies, and 
particularly the election of Abbe Gregoire, the famous 
revolutionist, forced the King to the side of the Ultras. The 
suffrage was, accordingly, still further restricted in 1820 by 
giving the rich electors a double vote; and a drastic press 
law was enacted establishing a censorship of all journals. 
Louis XVIII died in 1824 and his brother ascended the 
throne as Charles X. 

The new King was a child of the ancien regime to whom 
the French Revolution brought bitterness without enlight- 
enment. He had returned from exile a sadder character 
but not a wiser man; hence, he was fully de- of the new 
termined to restore both the spirit and the 
institutions of former days. To Charles a divine right 
monarchy was the only legitimate form of government, an 
intolerant church the only true Christianity, and a landed 
aristocracy the only stable basis of society. His mind was 
a curious blend of mediocrity and fanaticism, a most de- 
testable combination in the eyes of the enlightened and 
brilliant French people, which was bound to arouse bitter 
opposition and to lead to his eventual overthrow. 

Charles forthwith proceeded to carry out his ideas. 
Under his influence a law was passed by the Chamber 
which aimed to indemnify the nobles whose Reactionary 
estates had been confiscated by the Revolution. le § lslatlon 
To raise the huge sum, — about two hundred million dol- 
lars, — the then existing debt of France was converted 



96 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

from five per cent to three per cent bonds. This was done 
in order to prevent the imposition of new taxes; but it cut 
into the income of the bondholders, who thenceforth became 
the bitter enemies of the Bourbon Monarchy. A series of 
laws was then enacted which aroused the greatest indigna- 
tion among the intellectual classes. Sacrilege, or profana- 
tion of sacred vessels in a church, was made punishable by 
death; the control of higher education was given to the 
clergy; and the liberty of the press was still more curtailed. 
An attempt was also made to restore primogeniture, or the 
right of the eldest son to inherit the entire estate of the 
father. As equal division among all the sons of land be- 
queathed by the father was regarded as a fundamental 
principle of the French Revolution, the attitude of the 
Government aroused the bitterest hostility of all classes, 
especially of the peasant proprietors, who now feared the 
return of the landed aristocracy. The King, in addition to 
procuring the passage of the reactionary laws, made it quite 
clear that he intended to disregard the Charter and to re- 
establish naked absolutism. On July 26, 1830, were issued 
the infamous "July Ordinances," which suspended the lib- 
erty of the press by requiring government authorization for 
the publication of periodicals and its renewal every three 
years ; which dissolved a newly elected Chamber even before 
it had met, because the majority was hostile to the King; 
and which modified the electoral law in order to disfran- 
chise the wealthy liberals of the middle classes, so that the 
electorate was to consist of only about twenty-five thou- 
sand, mainly large landowners. Charles furthermore ex- 
pressly claimed the right to interpret the Charter in any 
way that he pleased. 

In this manner the King managed to antagonize every 
influential element in France, except the small clique of 
The July returned emigres headed by his favorite min- 
uprising ister, Polignac. Opposition to the Government 

became general, and all factions, Bonapartist, Republican, 
and Liberal Monarchist, each, however, for particular rea- 
sons of its own, united to overthrow a system which had 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 97 

become an anachronism. On July 28, 1830, rioting — prel- 
ude to revolution — was begun by Paris workingmen who 
had erected a network of barricades out of paving-stones, 
wagons, and old furniture, in the crooked and narrow streets. 
The soldiers attempted half-heartedly to suppress the re- 
volt, but were beaten by the insurgents. As soon as it ap- 
peared certain that Paris was in the hands of the revolu- 
tionists, Charles abdicated and fled to England. 

The two most important elements that brought about 
the July Revolution, as it was called, were the working- 
men, who desired a democratic republic, and the Louis 
middle class, who wished merely a constitutional becomes 
monarchy. Most of the fighting behind the King 
barricades was done by the former, but the latter, better 
organized and more influential, soon got control of the 
situation. Their candidate for the throne was Louis 
Philippe, Duke of Orleans, a member of the younger branch 
of the Bourbon dynasty, and a man who was not only will- 
ing, but even desirous, to become a strictly constitutional 
king. " He will respect our rights because he will hold his 
from us," was the announcement made on his behalf. 
Louis Philippe was eager to show his democratic bent of 
mind. He wore the cockade and accepted the tricolor 
flag, symbols of the French Revolution, and he publicly 
embraced General Lafayette, the leader of the popular 
party. On August 3, 1830, the Chamber of Deputies chose 
Louis Philippe as King of the French by the " grace of God 
and the will of the nation"; and once more did the Revo- 
lutionary tricolor become the flag of the nation in place of 
the Bourbon fleur de lys, or the white banner with golden 
lilies. 

The July Monarchy 

The new regime began by making important changes 
in the constitution. Absolute government was ^ ^ 

& Lonstitu- 

abohshed by a declaration that the Ministers tional 
were to be responsible to the Chamber and re orms 
not to the King. The "July Ordinances" were repealed, 



98 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

and freedom of the press and of assembly assured. An 
important change was also made in the suffrage. The vote 
was now given to all men over twenty-five years old paying 
a direct annual property tax of forty dollars instead of 
sixty as formerly; in the case of professional men only 
twenty dollars was the requirement. Although the electo- 
rate was greatly enlarged by these provisions, it numbered 
only about two hundred thousand out of a population of 
about thirty million. These property requirements for suf- 
frage were so arranged as to include the middle class and to 
exclude the workingmen. It soon became perfectly plain 
that the center of political gravity had shifted from the 
landed aristocracy to the well-to-do of the bourgeoisie. 

The new King had had a checkered career. Exiled in 
1793 by the Terrorists, he had traveled all over Europe, 
Ch f and even in America, earning a livelihood by 

the "Citizen teaching French. He returned to his native 
in§ land during the Restoration, after an exile of 

twenty-one years. Unlike his Bourbon predecessors, he 
was shrewd enough to see that a new class, the capitalists, 
was rising to power and influence and that it would soon 
displace the old nobility in the government of the coun- 
try. He therefore did everything in his power to ingratiate 
himself with these newly rich, greatly to the disgust of his 
aristocratic friends, who regarded bankers, stockbrokers, 
and manufacturers with haughty contempt. It was his 
custom to walk the streets unattended, dressed in a frock 
coat and top hat and carrying an umbrella, the symbols of 
the new regime, as wig, knee-breeches, and sword had been 
of the old. He also delighted to parade ostentatiously his 
liberal views, and was fond of calling himself the "Citizen 
King." In the opinion of many, this man, who in his 
youth had fought in the armies of the Revolution and was 
now so democratic in his manners and sentiments, would 
be the ideal constitutional monarch dreamed of by lib- 
erals in all lands. 

Louis Philippe's policy was to favor the middle classes 
in order to win their support for his throne. Just as 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 99 

Napoleon had created a nobility from among his soldier 
supporters, so the new King began to create a The new 
capitalist nobility, the "July nobles," as they Government 
were derisively called. Bankers, speculators, and middle 
manufacturers received patents of nobility, and classes 
the old aristocrats, greatly to their astonishment, found 
themselves unwelcome at Court. The only opposition to 
the Government came at first from the Legitimists, or the 
supporters of the Bourbons, who were now weak and dis- 
credited, and from the Republican workingmen who, as 
we have seen, were not given the ballot, although they 
had been mainly instrumental in the expulsion of Charles X. 
In one sense, the working classes were even worse off under 
the new regime than they had been under the old, because 
their employers, who were now in control, had a direct 
interest in keeping them in subjection. Severe laws were 
passed forbidding the formation of trade unions for the 
purpose of increasing wages. The hours of labor were long, 
sometimes as many as eighteen; the factories were unsani- 
tary; and women and children were employed under out- 
rageous conditions. Strike after strike broke out in the 
industrial centers, but they were ruthlessly suppressed by 
the Government. The silk weavers of Lyons, exasperated 
by a reduction of their already low wages, rose in revolt, 
declaring that they would either "live by working or die 
fighting." Many died fighting. 

Disappointed with the outcome of the July Revolution, 
the workingmen began to organize on a new basis, hos- 
tility to the capitalists as well as to the aristo- working 
crats. One revolution, they argued, that of 1 789, S la m s d 
had benefited the peasants and middle classes; "national 
another, that of 1830, the capitalists; the next worksh °P s " 
was to be a revolution for the benefit of the working classes. 
"We have in view," they declared in a manifesto, "not 
so much a political as a social change. The extension of 
political rights, electoral reform, universal suffrage, may 
all be excellent things, but simply as a means to an end. 
Our object is to divide the burdens and benefits of society 



ioo MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

equally and to establish the complete reign of equality." 
This new working-class movement came to be known as 
"socialism." The leading figure in it was Louis Blanc, 
whose book, The Organization of Labor (1839), was widely 
influential in its day. According to the plan proposed, the 
State was to become an industrial republic by organizing 
"national workshops," which were to be managed by the 
workers in each particular industry. The product of their 
labor was to be divided among them on the principle of 
"from each according to his capacity and to each according 
to his services"; in this way the laborers were to be ele- 
vated from the condition of wage-earners to that of indus- 
trial partners. 

Republican sentiment, even among the middle classes, 
finally became strong enough to frighten the July Mon- 
tvt archy. Incipient insurrections and violent dem- 

Newspaper . 

attacks on onstrations were continually breaking out, and 
several attempts were made even on the life of 
the King. The country was covered with secret societies, 
like the powerful Society of the Rights of Man, which aimed 
to overthrow the Government. Louis Philippe, although 
a " King of the Barricades," began to fear that he might at 
any time be forced to flee like Charles X. Like many other 
tyrants, he had no policy other than suppression. Laws 
were enacted requiring all societies to submit their consti- 
tutions for approval by the Government. In spite of the 
constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press, Republi- 
can journals were suppressed and their editors jailed, fined, 
or deported. In 1835 were passed the infamous "Septem- 
ber Laws," which prohibited, by severe penalties, criticism 
of the King in any form. Caricatures of Louis Philippe were 
especially forbidden, as the comic journals of Paris were 
fond of picturing him with a pear-shaped head. It was like- 
wise made unlawful to question the institution of property 
or to defend any but the monarchical system of govern- 
ment. Newspapers had to deposit twenty thousand dol- 
lars with the Government as a guarantee of good behavior. 
To try cases arising from breaches of these laws special 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 101 

courts were organized which could condemn an accused 
person even in his absence. 

By these methods Louis Philippe managed to get rid of 
opposition for a time. But the more liberal-minded men of 
all classes were now convinced that liberty Reactionary 
would not be safe under any monarch, no mat- the King and 
ter how democratic his professions. More and Guizot 
more did the King assert his prerogative to govern, and he 
firmly declared that "the throne was not an empty arm- 
chair." He began a policy of personal government by 
choosing the Cabinet himself, irrespective of the wishes of 
the Chamber. Adolphe Thiers, who had been his sponsor 
and stoutest supporter, was compelled to resign his posi- 
tion as Prime Minister, because he believed in the English 
theory that the king should reign but not rule. In Fran- 
cois Guizot, the famous historian, the King finally found 
a Minister in harmony with his ideas. Guizot had op- 
posed the tyranny of Charles X most bitterly, and he 
was now as strongly opposed to the other extreme, the 
rule of the common man. According to him, the essence 
of free government was that of a king and parliament, the 
latter to be chosen by property-owners, i.e., the upper and 
middle classes. The cabinet should be chosen independ- 
ently by the king and, at the same time, receive the sup- 
port of parliament. In order to insure this support, Guizot 
organized a system of political corruption to grind out 
majorities for the Government during the elections. The 
two hundred thousand voters were known as the pays legal, 
or the legitimate source of political power. They chose 
electoral colleges which, in turn, chose the Deputies to the 
Chamber. In the highly centralized government of France, 
both local and national patronage, as well as special favors 
to localities, was used by Guizot to gain supporters. The 
Deputies themselves were often bribed by being made stock- 
holders in industrial corporations or by being given govern- 
ment contracts. In this way Parliament became a willing 
tool in the hands of the King; the system was not unlike 
the one which existed in England under George III and 



102 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

his Minister, Lord North. To Guizot, whose mind was of 
the rigid, pedantic type, adherence to parlimentary forms 
constituted political liberty; consequently he was exceed- 
ingly careful to observe the constitution in regard to the 
rights of the legislature. 

Naturally enough this system encountered great opposi- 
tion. Sharp demands were made for universal suffrage, di- 
Unpopular- rect election of Deputies, and ministerial respon- 
Kmgand sibility. To all of these Guizot turned a deaf 
of Guizot ear. The tyranny of the July Monarchy was 
all the more resented because it had come in on the wave 
of revolution; moreover, unlike the Bourbons or Imperial- 
ists, it could point to no great traditions or achievements 
with which to arouse enthusiasm. Hypocrisy was the stamp 
of its birth, as mediocrity was of its life. The common- 
place King and his stilted, pedantic Minister were begin- 
ning to bore France, always a fatal thing in that vivacious 
land. What made the Government most odious was its 
tendency to pursue a peace-at-any price policy in foreign 
affairs. At that time Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt and a 
vassal of the Sultan of Turkey, rebelled against his suzerain 
and received the support of France. 1 But the Sultan was 
supported by England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, who 
arranged a conference in London (1840) in order to agree 
on the means of fighting the rebellious viceroy. France 
was ignored. This aroused a warlike sentiment among the 
French, to which the King refused to respond because he 
feared that an unsuccessful war might lead to his downfall. 
It was felt by many that Louis Philippe was willing to 
sacrifice the honor of his country for his own safety. 

Opposition to the Government gathered force every 
year, although both the King and Guizot failed to see the 
Uprising strength of the revolutionary movement which 
of 1848 was un iting moderate monarchists and extreme 

socialists against their regime. A number of "reform ban- 
quets" were organized to promote the agitation. On Feb- 
ruary 22, 1848, a great reform banquet was to be held in 

1 See p. 404. 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 103 

Paris, but a government order forbade it. However, on the 
day appointed a great crowd, composed mainly of students 
and workingmen, gathered before the hall to protest against 
this order. The National Guard was sent to disperse the 
mob, but, instead, it joined the rioters with shouts of "Long 
live Reform! Down with Guizot!" The King, frightened, 
promised concessions. Guizot resigned. But the march of 
events was swifter than the tardy concessions. On the next 
morning barricades appeared in the streets, and Paris was 
in the hands of the revolutionists, who proclaimed a repub- 
lic amid shouts of "Long live Reform!" A mob entered 
the Tuileries palace and destroyed the throne, and then 
rushed into the Chamber of Deputies with cries of "Down 
with Royalty!" Louis Philippe abdicated and fled to Eng- 
land. A provisional government, composed of seven Repub- 
licans and three Socialists, was then organized. 

The Second Republic 

The complete success of the February Revolution was as 
much a surprise to the victors as to the vanquished. It was 
the work largely of two elements, (1) the mili- working- 
tant Parisian workingmen who were now deter- m ?" c ? nd , 

. middle class 

mined to control the new government in their win the 
own interests, and (2) the idealistic Republicans revolutlon 
of the middle class whose program, when they had one, 
consisted of demands for political, religious, and educational 
reform. Lamartine, poet, essayist, and statesman, was the 
spokesman of these " Men of '48." To Louis Blanc, the 
leader of the Socialists, the time was now propitious for a 
social revolution which was to establish Liberty, Fraternity, 
and Equality in economic as well as in political matters. 

The ease with which the July Monarchy was overthrown 
stirred the hopes of the socialists. Events moved rapidly 
in their direction, so it seemed. Fearing to arouse The estab- 
the Parisian workingmen, the Provisional Gov- "'national 
ernment recognized the principle of the "right workshops" 
to labor," namely, that the State owed every one an oppor- 
tunity to gain a livelihood; and it also established a Labor 



104 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Commission and ordered the creation of the "national work- 
shops" demanded by Louis Blanc and his followers. But it 
was not at all the intention of the Provisional Government 
to favor these socialistic experiments; on the contrary, it 
proposed to do everything possible to frustrate them. The 
recommendations of the Labor Commission were ignored, 
and the "national workshops" were placed in charge of a 
man avowedly hostile to the idea. What was established 
was a caricature of Blanc's plan. Men of all trades were 
assuredly given "the right to work" — building fortifications 
at a wage of forty cents a day. In spite of this low wage, 
however, over one hundred thousand men were at one 
time at work on the fortifications, for there was great dis- 
tress owing to general unemployment. 

The Provisional Government soon gave place to a Consti- 
tutional Assembly which met May 4, 1848. Most of the 
The "June delegates elected to this body were moderate 
days" republicans and bitterly hostile to socialism. 

A demand made by Blanc for the creation of a Ministry of 
Labor was refused. The Parisian workingmen soon realized 
that socialism was as little favored by the republicans as 
by the monarchists. In fact, almost the first act of the 
Assembly was to abolish the "national workshops " and to 
discharge the laborers, who were denounced by the con- 
servatives as "a reserve army of insurrection, a perpetual 
strike supported by public money." Many men were thus 
thrown out of employment, and so bitterness was added to 
disappointment. Once more the barricades went up in the 
streets of Paris, this time against those who had but recently 
been behind them. Street fighting, such as had not been 
seen since the Reign of Terror, took place during the famous 
"June days" (June 23-26, 1848), between the workingmen 
under the red flag, the emblem of socialism, and the military. 
The middle classes, now thoroughly alarmed, took a terrible 
revenge. General Cavaignac was given full power and the 
uprising was ruthlessly suppressed. About ten thousand 
men were killed or wounded and many were deported or 
imprisoned. The terrible "June days" had important con- 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 105 

sequences. A bitter and lasting antagonism arose between 
the bourgeoisie and the working classes. The latter became 
more or less indifferent to political reforms, no matter how 
radical; and the former became hostile to government by 
the " vile mob," no matter how idealistic their sentiments. 
Again, there took place a consolidation of conservative sen- 
timent among all property-owners, great and small, cap- 
italists, peasants, and shopkeepers alike, who saw in the 
insurrection of the workingmen a menace to their prosper- 
ity, and even to their very existence. The "June days" 
were to exercise a decided influence on the downfall of the 
Second Republic. 

The Constitutional Assembly then drew up a constitution 
for the Republic. A parliament, called the Legislative As- 
sembly, was provided for, to consist of one The new 
house of seven hundred and fifty members constltutl °n 
elected by universal suffrage. Full executive power was 
given to a president, to be chosen by universal suffrage for 
a term of four years. Complete freedom of speech and of 
assembly was especially guaranteed. As candidates for the 
Presidency there appeared three men: General Cavaignac, 
Republican, Ledru-Rollin, Socialist, and Louis Napoleon 
Bonaparte. The last was a son of Louis Bonaparte, brother of 
the great Napoleon, and Hortense Beauharnais, the daughter 
of Empress Josephine by her first husband; hence he was 
related to the great Napoleon by the ties of blood and 
marriage. 

After the downfall of the Empire, Louis Napoleon had 
led a life of exciting exile in many lands. In Italy, he be- 
came a member of the secret revolutionary soci- character 
ety known as the Carbonari ; in England, he of Louis 
became a special constable to suppress the Char- 
tist rioters. Throughout his life he was obsessed with the 
idea that France had still another imperial life to lead and 
that he, the sole inheritor of the great Napoleonic tradition, 
was destined to revive the glories of the First Empire. In 
1836 and again in 1840, he made attempts to provoke 
an uprising in the French army, but each time he failed 



106 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

miserably and was imprisoned. In appearance the inheritor 
of Napoleonic traditions was peculiar: his body was long, 
but his legs were short ; his face was adorned by a pointed 
moustache and by an "imperial," or pointed beard, in order, 
so his enemies said, to hide a weak chin. Some thought 
him commonplace; others, crafty; still others, dreamy; all 
thought him insignificant and ridiculous. But the revival 
of a great emotion gave this singular man his opportunity. 
The bourgeois monarchy of Louis Philippe had bored the 
French, who harked back to the splendor and glory of the 
past at the very time that the Napoleonic "legend" was 
in the process of formation. 

In 1840 the remains of the great Emperor were brought 
from St. Helena and deposited with elaborate ceremonies 
T , N in a magnificent tomb. Thiers, who was a his- 

leonic torian as well as a politician, published his 

famous work, The Consulate and the Empire, 
which was a glorification of the Emperor's life and deeds. 
Louis Napoleon himself wrote a book called Napoleonic 
Ideas, in which he contended that his famous uncle was a 
true servant of the French Revolution, his chief aim having 
been to establish' a democratic government, but that he 
was prevented from doing so by the tyrant kings of Europe. 
For this reason his work remained unfinished. "I repre- 
sent before you," declared Louis Napoleon at his trial for 
treason in 1840, "a principle, a cause, a defeat. The prin- 
ciple is the sovereignty of the people; the cause is that of 
the Empire; the defeat is Waterloo." In the campaign for 
the Presidency of the Second Republic, he naturally had the 
advantage of a great name and a great tradition. "Why 
should I not vote for this gentleman?" said a Napoleonic 
veteran, "I, whose nose was frozen at Moscow?" In the 
election that followed, Louis Napoleon received about 
5,400,000 votes, almost three times as many as both of his 
opponents combined. "My duty is clear," announced the 
Prince-President, " and I shall fulfill it as a man of honor. 
I shall regard as enemies of the country all those who 
endeavor to change by illegal means that which France has 
established." How he fulfilled his "duty " we shall soon see. 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 107 

Overthrow of the Second Republic 

The result of the election to the Legislative Assembly in 
1849 was surprising. It was overwhelmingly monarchist, 
as only about 250 out of the 750 members were The Mon . 
republicans, either moderate or socialist. There archist 
was now a republic without republicans. Both 
the President and the Assembly immediately devoted them- 
selves to the suppression of the democratic propaganda. 
Republican journals were suppressed, their editors jailed 
on one pretense or another, and, in some cases, Republican 
representatives were deprived of their seats. The Assembly 
proposed also to "purify" universal suffrage. In 1850 it 
passed an electoral law which directly disfranchised mem- 
bers of secret societies and those who had taken part in the 
revolutionary agitation; and, indirectly, it disfranchised 
many workingmen by requiring that a citizen, in order to 
be qualified as an elector, had to have his name on the local 
tax list for at least three consecutive years. Few working 
men could fulfill these qualifications. 

Having thus disposed of the Republicans, the Prince- 
President and the monarchist Assembly fell to quarreling 
with each other. Their rival ambitions clashed, The Presi- 
for the secret desire of the former was to become cre dits the 
Emperor, whereas the latter wished to restore Assembly 
either the Bourbon or the Orleans dynasty. Louis Napoleon 
demanded the repeal of the provision in the constitution 
which made the President ineligible for a second term, and 
the Assembly naturally opposed him. Failing in this he 
decided to discredit that body by demanding the repeal of 
the franchise law of 1850, and so posing as a champion 
of universal suffrage. As Commander-in-Chief he put his 
friends in positions of command in the army, the rank and 
file of which were enthusiastic over the idea of having a 
Bonaparte at its head. 

Everything was prepared for a coup d'etat, or the over- 
throw of the Republic by a military conspiracy, and the 
day chosen was December 2, 1851, the anniversary of the 



108 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Battle of Austerlitz. One morning Paris awoke to find 
The coup the whole city placarded with announcements by 
d'etat the President that he had dissolved the Assembly 

and had ordered the reestablishment of universal suffrage 
in order to "save the country and the Republic from harm." 
The soldiers forcibly ejected the members of the Assembly, 
arresting all who opposed them. A list of republicans in 
all parts of France had been drawn up, and over twenty 
thousand Frenchmen were imprisoned or exiled. In spite of 
the great care that the conspirators exercised in preventing 
the erection of barricades, an uprising took place in the 
streets of Paris, but the soldiers were prepared, and the 
"massacre of the boulevards" followed, in which many were 
wounded and about one hundred and fifty killed. Louis 
Napoleon was now virtual master of France. A referendum, 
known as a "plebiscite," was then ordered, in which all 
citizens were asked whether they approved or disapproved 
of the President's action and of the new constitution which 
he proposed. By a vote of 7,481,000 to 647,000, France 
gave her seal of approval to the coup d'etat. 

This new constitution provided that Louis Napoleon 
should serve as President for a new term of ten years. He 
The new was to have full executive power and the cabinet 
constitution was to ^ e responsible to him only. There were to 
be three legislative bodies: (1) a Council of State, appointed 
by the President to prepare all the laws; (2) a Corps legis- 
latif, elected by universal suffrage to discuss and to vote 
on bills; and (3) a Senate, appointed by the President for 
life, to which was given the somewhat vague function of 
being the "guardian of the fundamental compact and of 
public liberties." This scheme was merely a disguised dic- 
tatorship, and shortly afterwards (November 7, 1852) Louis 
Napoleon was openly proclaimed by the Senate Napoleon 
III, Emperor of the French. This action, too, was ratified 
by a plebiscite. There was now a second Restoration, this 
time of the Napoleonic dynasty and in the person of the 
fantastic adventurer and poverty-stricken exile on whom 
had been poured so much ridicule and contempt. 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 109 

It would be only too easy to ascribe the startling change 
from the democratic Republic of 1848 to the autocratic 
Empire of 1852 to the instability, or "frivolous- Reasons 
ness," of the French. But this would hardly do Accepted 1106 
justice to a great people whose influence in the Napoleon 
world has been most profound. There are more worthy 
explanations. In the first place, the great number of prop- 
erty-owners in France, the peasants and the middle classes, 
had become badly frightened at the growth of revolutionary 
socialism among the workingmen. The "June days" had 
inspired a fear that democracy would spell socialism, and 
that this might mean the confiscation of private property. 
"The agitation, set on foot by the Liberals," declared Jules 
Simon, the distinguished French statesman, "resulted in 
the Republic which they dreaded, and at the last moment 
universal suffrage, set on foot by certain Republicans, re- 
sulted in promoting the cause of socialism which they 
abhorred." Louis Napoleon appeared to many substantial 
persons as the "savior of society," the strong man who would 
sternly suppress the uprising of the socialists as his great 
uncle had suppressed the Jacobins, with a "whiff of grape- 
shot." In the second place, the workingmen themselves 
were more or less indifferent to the coup d'etat. Since the 
"June days," they had come to regard a bourgeois republic 
with the same hatred as a bourgeois monarchy. And was 
not Louis Napoleon in favor of universal suffrage, which 
had been abolished by the Assembly? In the third place, 
the French people were not in a position to prevent the 
change to autocracy, even had they been willing to do so, 
because the plebiscite was a tricky form of referendum. 
Instead of asking the people whether they wished to make 
a change, Louis Napoleon first made the change and then 
asked for approval. It was, then, a choice between accept- 
ing the new government or nothing; hence there was no 
alternative but to vote approval. Over a million and a half 
electors stayed away from the polls rather than take part 
in this farcical referendum. The new Emperor combined 
with a dreamy and impulsively generous disposition a 



no MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cunning that was almost unfathomable and an unscrupu- 
lousness that was almost unbelievable. Finally, Louis Na- 
poleon with his romantic history and great tradition made 
a powerful appeal to the highly imaginative French. They 
believed that under his rule France would again assume a 
dominant position in European affairs; and, as we shall see, 
they were not mistaken. 

Romantic Movement in French Literature 

French literature during the first half of the nineteenth 
century saw the rise and decline of the Romantic move- 
Reaction ment. The Restoration brought in its train a 
against the hatred for the writings of the eighteenth-century 
philosophers, who were regarded as responsible 
for the French Revolution. In contradistinction to the latter, 
who wrote in a clear, faultlessly "classic" style about 
" reason," the writers of the new period, influenced partly 
by Rousseau and partly by Chateaubriand, threw "reason" 
to the wind, and wrote in a style and on subjects in which 
emotion and imagination had free play. These Romanti- 
cists, as they were called, preached vehemently against the 
cold rationalism of their predecessors, and turned for inspi- 
ration to the fantastic tales and marvelous deeds of the 
Middle Ages. The Romantic movement has been well de- 
scribed as the " renaissance of wonder," for anything that 
was wonderful, strange, curious, and imaginative made a 
powerful appeal to the writers of this new school. 

The movement in France began with a small group in 
Paris calling itself the Cenacle, of which Victor Hugo was 
Romanti- tne l ea -ding spirit. It was the production in 1830 
cists versus of the latter's play, Hernani, a grandiloquent 
melodrama of a heroic brigand, which started a 
storm of applause and condemnation; so strong was the 
feeling that almost every performance was followed by 
lively scrimmages between the "Romanticists" and the 
"Classicists." The battle of the schools raged for almost 
a generation; books, pamphlets, and manifestoes were is- 
sued, defending or attacking Romanticism. 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE in 

Victor Hugo (1802-85), the chief protagonist of Roman- 
ticism, became a sort of literary dictator to the rising gen- 
eration of French men-of-letters, and his pop- 

* Victor Hugo 

ularity has persisted down to this day, not only 
in France, but throughout the world. Gifted with an extra- 
ordinary imagination, he wove a magic web over everything 
that he wrote, whether poem, drama, novel, history, or essay. 
"He can conjure up the strangest vision of fancy; he can 
evoke the glamour and the mystery of the past; he can sing 
with exquisite lightness of the fugitive beauties of Nature; 
he can pour out, in tenderness or in passion, the melodies 
of love; he can fill his lines with the fire, the stress, the cul- 
minating fury, of prophetic denunciation; he can utter the 
sad and secret questionings of the human spirit and give 
voice to the solemnity of Fate." l Half-prophet, half-jour- 
nalist, Hugo had both a wide and a deep influence on 
his generation, whose spokesman he regarded himself. His 
verbal facility was amazing. Words poured from his pen 
in a swift and steady stream, and he almost exhausted the 
resources of the French language of whose treasures he 
was master. Like many other French men-of-letters, Hugo 
was keenly interested in public affairs, and he became an 
eloquent champion of democratic principles. For denounc- 
ing the coup d'etat of Louis Napoleon he was driven into 
exile, where he wrote bitter invectives against the Emperor 
whom he called " Napoleon le petit." 

His most famous novel is Les Miserables, a prose epic of 
modern society, which is an eloquent indictment of inhu- 
mane social conditions. The characters that appear in this 
book constitute a wonderful gallery of portraits of saints 
and sinners, whose characters and ideals are depicted in a 
style suffused with emotion and in a spirit of fervent hu- 
manitarianism. 

Hugo's chief title to fame is, however, as a poet. The 
lyrical quality and vivid imagery of his verse is unexcelled 
in French poetry. The collection of poems called Chdtiments 
is a lyrical outburst of love of humanity and hatred for 

1 G. L. Strachey, Landmarks in French Literature, p. 215. 



ii2 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

tyranny. In his Contemplations other qualities are shown, 
symbolic and even mystic brooding over religion, love, and 
destiny. 1 

The chief followers of Hugo were the poets, Alfred de 
Vigny (i 797-1 863) and Alfred de Musset (1810-57) and 
The Roman- tne noveus ts, Theophile Gautier (181 1-72) and 
tic poets and Alexandre Dumas ( 1 803-70). De Vigny 's poetry 
is at times idealistic and full of delicate imagery; 
at other times, it is melancholy to the point of pessimism. 
It was said of him that he was like a beautiful angel who 
had drunk of vinegar. Brilliant, vivacious, and senti- 
mental was Alfred de Musset, the "poet of love," whose 
poems and plays have a high place in French literature. 
His most famous work is Les Nuits, a series of philosophic 
poems in the form of dialogues. Theophile Gautier, novel- 
ist, essayist, and poet, was an ardent Romanticist, whose 
sensational appearance at the first performance of Hernani, 
with his long hair disheveled and his person adorned with a 
flaming red waistcoat, aroused much hilarity. Master of 
a style which was almost flawless in its perfection, his themes 
are often trivial and, according to some critics, his work 
is lacking in ideas. The best-known Romantic novelist of 
the day, next to Victor Hugo, was Alexandre Dumas, whose 
tales have been described as "cloak-and-sword" romances 
because they deal with daring adventures, wicked conspira- 
cies, and romantic loves. Dumas is the great favorite among 
boys, few of whom have not read his famous novels, the 
Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo. 

The chief contribution of the Romantic movement to 
French literature was a revival of lyric poetry, particu- 
Romanti- larly in the work of Hugo, whose enduring fame 
cists become rests on his greatness, not as a novelist, but 
as a lyric poet. It also created a new type of 
prose which profoundly influenced later French literature. 
In politics, unlike the German Romanticists, who became 
reactionaries, the French Romanticists became radical 
democrats, "contemners of kings and laws," despite their 

1 For further account of Hugo, see p. 165. 



DEMOCRACY AND REACTION IN FRANCE 113 

love for the Middle Ages. Hugo and his disciples were too 
close to the great Revolution, and too much inspired by its 
ideals, to welcome the return of medievalism ; what they did 
was to fuse the themes of the Middle Ages with the spirit 
of the French Revolution. 

Alphonse Prat de Lamartine (1 790-1 869) is the unique 
example of a poet turned statesman. Lamartine was a 
philosphic poet, and might be described as the 
French Wordsworth. His volume of Medita- 
tions consists of philosophic elegies written in a beautiful, 
melodious style on such themes as Religion, Love, and Na- 
ture. His famous History of the Girondins is less a history 
than an eloquent tribute to the ideas of the Girondins of 
the French Revolution, whom he greatly admired. Lamar- 
tine was a sincere lover of freedom, and he threw himself 
into the revolutionary movement of 1848 with ardor, hop- 
ing to establish true democracy on the ruins of the bourgeois 
monarchy. He proved himself a remarkable orator, and 
becoming a popular idol, he was elected President of the 
Constituent Assembly. But his popularity was short-lived, 
as both socialists and monarchists opposed him and he was 
compelled to retire from politics. 

Aurore Dupin (1804-76), better known by her pseu- 
donym, "George Sand," is the representative of the Idealist 
school in French literature. Her novels of coun- _ „ , 

,. r . . , n 11 George Sand 

try hie, written in a clear, flowing style, have 
an idyllic charm which has endeared her to thousands of 
readers. She effected something like a revolution in litera- 
ture by introducing peasants and common laborers as heroes. 
Later in life she became a warm advocate of the rights of 
women and of workingmen, and an ardent adherent of 
Utopian socialism. 

In the novels of Honore Balzac (1 799-1 850) the prob- 
lems of the middle classes for the first time become the 
leading themes in literature. His famous Come- „ , 

• r Balzac 

die Humaine, in which about five thousand 
characters pass and repass through a series of one hun- 
dred novels, constitutes a veritable storehouse of "human 



ii4 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

documents" illustrating the social life of France during the 
first half of the nineteenth century. The virtues and vices 
of the middle classes are analyzed and portrayed with 
wonderful power and insight in this bourgeois epic, in which 
money, not love or war, is the theme, the moral, and the 
tale. Balzac's attitude toward human beings is almost that 
of a naturalist toward animals; he analyzes them as ob- 
jectively, classifies them as emotionlessly, and judges them 
as dispassionately. He loves to ferret out the hidden 
motives for human action, and to expose mercilessly the 
secret springs and hidden trapdoors of society. Tn the 
opinion of many literary critics Balzac is the greatest of 
all the French novelists. 1 

1 His chief novels are Eugenie Grandet, Le Pere Goriot, Le Cousin Pons, La 
Cousine Bette, and Grandeur et Decadence de Cesar Birotteau. 



CHAPTER VII 

CENTRAL EUROPE 
1815-50 

Introduction 

Since the dissolution of the ancient Roman Empire two 
great problems have constantly confronted the Western, 
European people, nationalism and democracy. p ro biem of 
Throughout the chaos of the feudal period a nationalism 

• -i • 1 1 j 1 " • solved by 

national consciousness was slowly developing France and 
in France and England which found expression ngan 
in the growing power of the king; and by the end of the 
fifteenth century. the feudal barons, who had been prac- 
tically independent monarchs in their own domains, were 
forced to give up their political independence and become 
courtiers or servants of the king. Furthermore, as a result 
of the Protestant Revolution, the Church was shorn of most 
of its secular authority and was also reduced to a position of 
subservience to the king, who was thereupon acknowledged 
by all his subjects as their supreme ruler. By the seven- 
teenth century France and England had solved one prob- 
lem, nationalism, which grew stronger as the people became 
more homogeneous, the laws more uniform, and the lan- 
guage and culture more common. 

It was quite otherwise in Germany. By a curious irony 
of circumstances those forces which made for nationalism 
in France and England produced the opposite Not solved 
effect in Germany. During the Middle Ages the b y Germany 
Holy Roman Emperor, who claimed absolute dominion, 
not only over Germany, but over Italy as well, was unable 
to enforce his authority over the feudal barons and the 
independent towns that often rebelled against him. The 
great struggle between the Papacy and the Empire re- 
sulted in the triumph of the former and in the consequent 



n6 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

weakening of the latter. Moreover, the Imperial Crown 
was elective, not hereditary ; hence those great lords known 
as the "Electors," who controlled the election of the Em- 
peror, were in a position to bargain with prospective candi- 
dates for their own advantage at the expense of the mon- 
archy and therefore of the nation. Instead of gradually 
increasing and consolidating his authority by reducing the 
feudal barons to submission, the Emperor gradually lost 
much of his power and became a figurehead, for the Holy 
Roman Empire was but a shadowy union, "neither Holy 
nor Roman nor an Empire," in Voltaire's witty descrip- 
tion. The Reformation had a disastrous effect on German 
national unity. As Germany was the battleground between 
the contending parties, she found herself in a state of almost 
complete ruin at the end of the Thirty Years' War. The 
result being a victory for the Protestants, the Emperor, who 
had championed the cause of Catholicism, lost whatever 
little power and prestige he had had, and Germany was 
now more disrupted than ever before. 

A map of Germany during the eighteenth century had 
the appearance of a crazy-quilt. There were fully three 
The "Ger- hundred independent states, the "Germanies" 
mames as th e y were then called by the French, varying 

in size from a large kingdom like Prussia to a tiny territory 
of a knight of the Empire, each with its own flag, system of 
government, tariff, and army. More confusing still was the 
fact that some states lay wholly or partly within the bound- 
aries of other states like scattered strips on a medieval farm. 
Among the Germans of that day love for the Fatherland 
did not exist; there was none to love. Those who emigrated 
from Germany to other lands readily became assimilated 
with other nationalities and quickly forgot their native 
language and customs. At home the Germans were apt to 
be narrow and provincial, cherishing a strongly developed 
Heine's de- spirit of "particularism," or love of their state, 
scription of and an affectionate regard for their princes. 
This is humorously described by the poet, Hein- 
rich Heine, in the following manner: 



CENTRAL EUROPE 117 

"Our Elector was a fine gentleman, a great lover of the 
arts, and himself very clever with his fingers. He founded 
the picture gallery at Dusseldorf, and in the Observatory 
in that city they still show a very artistic set of wooden 
boxes, one inside the other, made by himself in his leisure 
hours, of which he had twenty-four every day. 

"In those days the princes were not overworked mortals 
as they are to-day. Their crowns sat very firmly on their 
heads, and at night they just drew their nightcaps over 
them, and slept in peace, while peacefully at their feet 
slept their peoples ; and when these woke up in the morning 
they said, 'Good-morning, Father,' and the princes replied, 
'Good-morning, dear children.'" 

It was no wonder, then, that Napoleon found it easy to 
conquer a people who were so lacking in national senti- 
ment and so divided among themselves. The Napoleon's 
great consolidation of the German states effected consolidation 
by the French Emperor in 1803-06 was a step of inestim- 
able importance in the process of unifying Germany, as it 
gave the necessary basis for the work of Bismarck in 1870. 

The other problem, democracy, was also solved, at least 
partially, by England and France. Parliaments were 
originally created by the kings in order to get p ro biem of 
more taxes from the burghers of the towns, democracy 

... r solved by 

But an institution created for one purpose England and 
was made to serve quite another in England, France 
where Parliament, through possessing the power of the 
purse, was able to wring concessions from the king. The 
struggle between Parliament and the Stuarts, the Crom- 
wellian Rebellion and the Revolution of 1689, resulted in 
establishing the supremacy 0/ the legislature in the gov- 
ernment of England; later, even the executive functions of 
the king were taken over by the Cabinet, which was made 
responsible to Parliament. Consequently, at the beginning 
of the nineteenth century, England had the machinery of 
a democratic state; all that she needed in order to become 
a complete democracy was to reform and to broaden her 
electoral system. France, too, had partially solved the prob- 



u8 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

lem of democracy. Although she had remained an autocracy 
down to the end of the eighteenth century, the French 
Revolution accomplished in one decade what it had taken 
England centuries to achieve. The restoration of absolutism 
by Napoleon and later by the Bourbons lasted only till 
the Revolution of 1830, which established constitutional 
government. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
France was on her way toward becoming a democratic 
state. 

Germany, possessing neither the English tradition of lib- 
erty, "broadening down from precedent to precedent," nor 
Not solved the revolutionary impulses of France, entered 
by Germany tfie nineteenth century a naked absolutism, un- 
checked by representative institutions and unquestioned 
by the mass of the people. It has been the history of almost 
every country in Europe that the solidarity of the people 
has always preceded the sovereignty of the people, for 
modern democracy cannot take root except in the rich and 
fertile soil of nationalism. A people divided in their alle- 
giance, as were the Germans, meant a people divided in 
their energies. They exhausted themselves in fratricidal 
strife and petty quarrels, with the result that they had no 
energy left to struggle for democracy. The narrow atmos- 
phere of the little "Germanies" cramped their souls and 
starved their national spirit. In despair they took to phil- 
osophy. For in the wide realm of metaphysics the German 
spirit could soar freely and majestically, knowing neither 
the constraint of boundaries nor the repression of despots. 
It was then a common jest that whereas France ruled the 
land and England the sea, Germany ruled the clouds. 
Many Germans affected to despise the nationalism to 
which they could not attain, and they became cosmopoli- 
tans, calling themselves "citizens of the world." "The 
love of country," declared the dramatist, Lessing, "is a 
sentiment which I do not understand. It is, as it seems 
to me, at best a heroic infirmity which I am most happy 
in not sharing." 



CENTRAL EUROPE 119 

Prussia 

The rise of Prussia to the leadership of the German peo- 
ple is one of the most important events in the history of 
modern Europe. Early in the fifteenth century Expansion 
the Electorate of Brandenburg, one of the of Prussia 
smaller states in the Empire, came under the rule of the 
Hohenzollern family, hitherto scarcely known in Germany. 
Ambition to extend their domains has been the most 
conspicuous trait of this dynasty; its proud boast is that 
a Hohenzollern always leaves his country larger than he 
finds it. The first great annexation was the Duchy of 
Prussia, which was acquired by the Elector of Branden- 
burg in 161 8 through inheritance from a younger branch 
of the family that ruled there. By shrewd diplomacy the 
Great Elector, Frederick William, managed to secure large 
additions of territory at the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. 
Brandenburg was soon important enough to be classed as 
a kingdom; and in 1701 the Elector Frederick III was 
created King of Prussia under the title of Frederick I. 
The most remarkable of the Hohenzollerns was Frederick 
II, the Great, who managed by his wonderful military and 
diplomatic abilities almost to double the size of his do- 
mains. He conquered Silesia from the Austrians and West 
Prussia from the Poles and obtained a part of Poland as a 
result of the first partition. His successor, Frederick Wil- 
liam II, got large additions of territory as a result of the 
later partitions of Poland. By the end of the eighteenth 
century Prussia had risen to be one of the Great Powers 
of Europe and a rival to Austria for the leadership of the 
German people. 

The steady growth of Prussia was interrupted by the 
Napoleonic wars. After the crushing defeat at Jena, in 
1806, Prussia as an independent nation was p russ ; a 
almost annihilated. Half of her territory was crushed by 

, , , . , . Napoleon 

taken away, and what remained was subject 

to French domination. Prussia would have been entirely 

dismembered by Napoleon had not the Tsar interfered in 



120 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

her behalf. After centuries of aggrandizement Prussia had 
reached the pinnacle of power only to collapse at the touch 
of Napoleon. 

There then began a great heart-searching among the rul- 
ing classes of the nation. What was the real cause of her 
Regeneration great humiliation and defeat? They came to the 
of Prussia conclusion that the Prussian armies were de- 
feated because the Prussian people lacked a national 
consciousness, due to their being divided by caste and re- 
stricted by tyrannical laws. Under the leadership of two 
remarkable statesmen, Stein and Hardenberg, the regen- 
eration of Prussia was begun. Serfdom was abolished and 
fully two thirds of the entire population were liberated. 
A great blow was struck at the feudal caste system by re- 
moving class and property distinctions in the legal code. 
The entire administration, both local and national, was 
reformed and made the basis of the wonderfully efficient 
German governmental system of to-day. The army was 
reorganized by Scharnhorst on the basis of universal mili- 
tary service. All these far-reaching reforms were accom- 
plished, not as a result of revolution from below or even 
because of threats of rebellion, but by edicts of King Fred- 
erick William III. The regeneration of Prussia has been 
variously described as a "revolution from above" and as a 
"royal night of August 4." * The effect of these reforms 
was immediately seen in the enthusiastic national revival 
known as the Liberation Movement, which helped to 
overthrow Napoleon and brought about Prussia's recovery. 

The German Confederation 

As we have already seen, 2 the consolidations effected 
Germany in Germany by Napoleon were left practi- 
bTthe'con- ca ^Y undisturbed by the Congress of Vienna, 
federation To the Holy Roman Empire succeeded the Ger- 
man Confederation, which was pledged to "the main- 

1 This expression is used to denote the abolition of feudalism by royal edict 
as opposed to the revolutionary method employed by the French. See p. 9. 

2 See p. 18. 



CENTRAL EUROPE 121 

tenance of external and internal security and the independ- 
ence and integrity of the individual states." But this new 
union united Germany no more than did the old one, as 
it, too, was "bound together by a spider's web." The Con- 
federation was an exceedingly loose union of sovereign 
states, which possessed no common executive and no 
common judiciary, but only a common legislature, the 
Bundestag, or Diet, which met at Frankfort-on-the-Main 
under the presidency of Austria. The Diet was really a con- 
gress of ambassadors, as the members were all appointed 
by the local sovereigns and were subject to their instruc- 
tions on all matters before that body; hence its powers 
were limited by the wishes of the German princes. More- 
over, no important measure could pass the Diet without a 
unanimous vote, and it was therefore almost impossible to 
get anything done. In many respects the German Confed- 
eration resembled the loose union of the thirteen Ameri- 
can States under the Articles of Confederation just prior 
to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. All it accom- 
plished was to stimulate the desire for a "more perfect 
union." The Frankfort Diet was ridiculed all over Ger- 
many as a "center of inertia," for the delegates spent most 
of their time debating inconsequential matters or quarrel- 
ing over their relative dignity of rank. 

In nearly every state of the Confederation, the govern- 
ment was an absolute monarchy. The title of the mon- 
arch varied according to the size of his state: Government 
in the large ones, like Prussia and Bavaria, it of the states 
was king; in the smaller ones, like Baden and Hesse, grand 
duke; in the still smaller ones, like Brunswick and Saxe- 
Meiningen, duke; and in the smallest, like Waldeck and 
Lippe, prince. In some of the states there existed aristo- 
cratic bodies known as the Landstdnde, or assemblies of the 
estates, in which were represented the various classes, 
nobles, burghers, and peasants, as in the Middle Ages. In 
some of the southern states, like Bavaria, Baden, and 
Wtirttemberg, the monarchs had granted moderate consti- 
tutions establishing parliaments elected on a property basis 



122 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

and having very limited powers. In general, constitutions 
and parliaments were regarded as revolutionary innova- 
tions to be resisted at all costs. 

The Confederation became the field for a kind of inter- 
national German diplomacy. The "great Powers" were 
„ , . Austria and Prussia; in the second rank were 

Relations 

between Bavaria, Saxony, and Wiirttemberg ; the rest were 

the states the « minor p owers .» The Germans exhausted 

their diplomatic genius on themselves, as the various states 
formed alliances and counter-alliances with one another and 
against one another; nothing delighted the German princes 
so much as this game of diplomatic intrigue which they 
practiced to their hearts' content. 

Prussia in time challenged Austria for the leadership of 
the German people, and the Frankfort Diet often became 
Advantages the scene of rivalry between these two states, 
of Prussia Prussia had the advantage of condition, Austria, 
of prestige. Excepting the Poles in the east, the popula- 
tion of Prussia was entirely German; her efficient bu- 
reaucracy, her strong army, her patriotic kings, and par- 
ticularly her leadership of the German people in the struggle 
against Napoleon, convinced all those who were dreaming 
of unity that Prussia alone could become the effective 
leader of a united German people. All that was necessary 
was to persuade the Hohenzollerns to pursue a German 
rather than a distinctly Prussian policy. 

Austria was not a nation, but a "monarchical machine." 
The House of Hapsburg was the only bond of union among 
Disadvan- a conglomeration of nations, or surviving rem- 
tages of nants of former nations, mainly Slavic and Hun- 

garian, who regarded German nationalism with 
indifference if not with distrust. Only about one fifth of the 
population in the Hapsburg dominions were of German 
origin and speech ; so in spite of the great prestige of Aus- 
tria, whose supremacy in Germany had been recognized for 
centuries, it was felt that she was too non-German and too 
inefficient to become the leader in the movement for 
unity. 



CENTRAL EUROPE 123 

The Austrian Government had just one policy, namely, 
to maintain the status quo at all costs. Even its apologists 
declared that the country was like a rickety old Evi i effects 
building which would fall to pieces the moment of th . e Met> 

, . _, ternich 

any attempts were made to repair it. The system in 
French Revolution, which had directly modern- Austna 
ized Western Germany and which had indirectly led to the 
regeneration of Prussia, exerted little if any influence in 
Austria, where the old regime, with its absolutism in gov- 
ernment, inequality in law, and intolerance in religion 
was still intact; the Austrian peasants were still semi- 
serfs, paying dues and service to the lords. There, Met- 
ternich reigned as undisputed master and infallible guide. 
Through his influence a system of intellectual repression 
was instituted which became notorious as the "Metternich 
system." A harsh censorship was established over jour- 
nals, books, plays, and schools. Spies were introduced 
into the university classrooms, who took notes at the lec- 
tures delivered by the professors and reported any utter- 
ances unfavorable to the Government. Librarians had to 
report the kind of books borrowed by liberal minded per- 
sons. The sale of books expressing liberal views, even of 
the most moderate kind, was forbidden. Most of the 
schools were placed under the control of the Catholic clergy, 
and students were compelled to go to mass on pain of dis- 
missal. Prevention was the sum total of the "Metter- 
nich system," which lay like a dead weight on the people 
for an entire generation. 

Young Germany 

During the generation from 181 5 to 1848 the political 
life of Germany was drawn into two powerful currents: 
one, toward democracy, or the establishment of National 
constitutional government in each of the states; cratic" 10 " 
and the other, toward nationalism, or the more currents 
perfect union of the various states into a German nation. 
Sometimes these currents flowed parallel with each other 
and sometimes in opposite directions, but generally they 



124 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

united to form one mighty stream in the political life of 
the German people. Nationalism and democracy were 
twin spirits animating nineteenth-century Europe; one 
was incomplete without the other, for both were the 
deadly enemies of absolute monarchy, which aimed to 
keep the people divided into hostile groups in order to 
prevent its authority from being undermined. A united 
German people, passionately devoted to the Fatherland 
and not to the various princes, would inevitably mean a 
lessening of the latter's power; hence the rulers were as 
bitterly opposed to union as they were to liberty. 

For centuries the spirit of nationalism had hovered over 
the German people, but at no time did the dream of a 
The princes un ited country seem harder of realization than 
oppose at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The 

nationalism ^ , ^ , . , ,- 

French Revolution was now over, and the re- 
stored despots, full of hatred for its principles, determined 
to crush any attempt to lessen their autocratic power and 
influence. However, the popular uprising in Germany 
against Napoleon had left an indelible memory of the 
might of an aroused people which boded ill for the princes, 
who were determined to do their utmost to suppress the 
popular sentiment which had been so useful to them when 
their thrones were in danger. 

It was among the rising generation that the movement 
for liberty and union began. Young Germany was swayed 
Rising gen- ^ ess ^y ancient memories than by the events 
eration longs of the immediate past, the French Revolution 
and the Liberation Movement of 1813. These 
young men of the early nineteenth century felt their souls 
cramped and minds warped in the petty, autocratic " Ger- 
manies"; therefore, they most ardently longed for a freer 
government in order to have "space in which a free spirit 
might find room to soar." 

In the universities societies were organized by the stu- 
The Bur- dents and teachers, which became known as 
schenschaften tfi e BurscJienschaften, or brotherhoods of young 
men whose motto was "Honor, Liberty, Fatherland!" This 



CENTRAL EUROPE 125 

movement originated at the University of Jena under the 
influence of Jahn and Arndt, who had been prominent in 
arousing Germany against Napoleon ; and, in a short time, 
sixteen societies were established in various German uni- 
versities. Any German student of whatever state was per- 
mitted to join the Burschenschaften, which were founded 
on a national basis in opposition to those student societies 
that were organized according to the states from which the 
members came. It was the object of this new student move- 
ment to agitate for German unity and freedom; and they 
adopted a flag of red, black, and gold, which were sup- 
posedly the colors of the volunteers during the War of 
Liberation. Now a new war of liberation was begun, this 
time against the tyrant princes at home. 

The students determined to arouse the German people 
by holding a patriotic national festival. Accordingly, on 
October 18, 1817, the jubilee year of the Prot- The Wart- 
estant Revolution and the fourth anniversary burg Festival 
of the Battle of Leipzig, a great student celebration took 
place at the Castle of Wartburg, famous in the history of 
early Protestantism. Patriotic addresses were made, and 
the students partook of the Lord's Supper to solemnize their 
holy resolve to strive for a united Fatherland. The closing 
of the festival was marked by a hilarious meeting around 
a bonfire where, in imitation of Luther's burning of the 
Papal Bull, the young patriots consigned to the flames 
certain reactionary books, as well as a corporal's baton 
and an officer's wig and corset, the symbols of military 
tyranny. 

The Wartburg Festival caused consternation among the 
princes, who feared that a revolution was brewing. They 
were thoroughly enraged when Kotzebue, a R age of 
reactionary journalist known to be a spy in the the P nnces 
secret pay of the Tsar of Russia, was assassinated by a 
student patriot. The universities were denounced as 
breeding-places of revolution, as schools that were educat- 
ing the rising generation to hate authority and to commit 
deeds of violence. Metternich, as usual, took upon himself 



126 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the guardianship of the established order. He called a con- 
ference of the princes at Carlsbad where, in 1819, they 
drew up the famous Carlsbad Decrees, which fettered the 
intellectual life of Germany for an entire generation. 

These decrees, later adopted by the Diet of the Confed- 
eration, provided that special officials should be appointed 
The Carls- in all the universities to supervise the conduct of 
bad Decrees j-j-^ students and teache s. It was to be the duty 
of these officials to report any departure from conservative 
principles, and to give a "salutary direction" to the instruc- 
tion of the youth. Any teacher who was known to "propa- 
gate harmful doctrines hostile to public order, or subversive 
of existing governmental institutions," was to be dismissed 
from his position and his appointment to any other univer- 
sity forbidden. The Burschenschaften were ordered dissolved, 
and a student expelled from a university for political activ- 
ity was not to be admitted to any other German university. 
The display of the red, black, and gold flag was forbidden, 
, and persons were prosecuted for even wearing a combination 
of these colors in their clothes, such as a yellow hat, black 
coat, and red waistcoat. A rigid press censorship was estab- 
lished, which made it almost impossible to have any sort 
of free expression of opinion on things political. 

Prussia had at first been the hope of the liberals, but 
King Frederick William III elected to follow Metternich's 
Persecution lead. Even the heroes of the Liberation Move- 
of patriots ment were now persecuted as demagogues. 
"Father" Jahn, whose patriotic gymnastic societies had 
once roused the youth of Prussia against the French in- 
vaders, was imprisoned. Ernst Moritz Arndt, whose patri- 
otic poems were on every one's lips, was removed from his 
position in the university. Fichte's famous Address to the 
German Nation, which had stirred all Germany against 
Napoleon, was forbidden republication. 

The Zollverein 

The barriers between the German states were economic 
as well as political. Each member of the Confederation had 



CENTRAL EUROPE 127 

a protective tariff against the goods of every other mem- 
ber; furthermore, nearly every one of the states i nterna j 
had internal, or provincial, tariffs. Prussia had tariffs hin- 
no fewer than sixty-seven of these provincial 
tariffs. The object of these numerous tariffs was to raise 
revenue for the Government by laying a tax on goods as 
they passed through different parts of the country. Hence 
the transit of goods from one part of Prussia to another, and 
from one German state to another, was enmeshed in a net- 
work of tariff duties which greatly hindered the develop- 
ment of German commerce and industry, and emphasized 
the division of the German people. Smuggling and dis- 
honest valuations of goods were greatly encouraged by this 
system, for it was well-nigh impossible to enforce so many 
tariffs, which varied from city to city and from district to 
district. 

A school of economists, who saw the intimate connection 
between economic and political unity appeared in Ger- 
many, the most distinguished among whom was Frederick 
Frederick List. List was a convinced and enthu- Llst 
s&stic advocate of what he called a "national system of 
political economy," according to which there was to be 
free trade within Germany with high protective duties on 
all foreign products. This system, in his opinion, would tend 
to bind all Germany into one economic whole and so inevit- 
ably lead to closer political union. He denounced the thirty- 
eight different tariffs as a hindrance to Germany's economic 
growth, because they had "much the same result as if one 
decided to bind up the various members of the human body 
in order to prevent the blood from circulating from one to 
the other." List's influence in Germany was as great as 
that of Adam Smith in England. 

A sweeping change was made by Prussia when she abol- 
ished all her internal duties in 181 8. She then invited the 
other German states to join a Zollverein, or cus- The Zoll- 
toms union, with the object of establishing free verein 
trade among the members. Although there was some hesi- 
tation at first about joining the union, the commercial 



128 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

advantages were so obvious that, by 1842, all the states of 
the German Confederation, except Mecklenburg, Hanover, 
and Austria, came under the operation of the Zollverein. 
The inclusion of Prussia and the exclusion of Austria in this 
economic alliance was of great political significance, for it 
gave to the former a far larger influence in Germany than 
she had ever enjoyed before. Later this new alignment was 
to be a decisive factor in the unification of Germany. 

The Revolution of 1848 in Prussia 

The King of Prussia, Frederick William III, died in 1840. 
He was succeeded by Frederick William IV, a man of 
Frederick vehement, romantic temperament, a lover and 
Wilham IV patron of learning, and an orator who was ex- 
ceedingly fond of making speeches. The new King's reign 
opened auspiciously for liberalism. Jahn and Arndt were 
pardoned and the latter was restored to his professorship. 
The brothers Grimm, the well-known scholars, returned 
from exile and were welcomed in Berlin. 1 But it was not 
at all the intention of the King to grant a constitution, as 
he was a strong believer in absolute monarchy based on 
divine right. "No sheet of written paper," he once declared, 
"shall ever thrust itself like a second Providence between 
God in Heaven and this land." A constitutional regime was 
a "government by paragraphs," which, to his mind, would 
never supplant the spontaneous loyalty of the people to a 
God-fearing king. 

When the Revolution of February, 1848, took place in 
Paris, it was the signal for a general uprising against ab- 
Revolution solute monarchy throughout Europe. The rev- 
of 1848 olutionary year 1848 is famous in European 

annals, as it marks the end of the Restoration period and 
the collapse of the "Metternich system." Throne after 
throne was overturned as the revolutionary tide rolled on 
from Paris to Warsaw; parliamentary governments were 
established in almost every country in Western Europe; 

1 As a protest against the abrogation of the constitution of Hanover they 
had gone into voluntary exile. 



CENTRAL EUROPE 



129 



and constitutions were granted guaranteeing freedom of 
speech, of the press, of assembly, of religion, and equality 
of all classes before the law. 1 

In nearly all the German states parliaments were called 
by the frightened monarchs, who hoped thereby to save 
their thrones if not their prerogatives. The Diet Uprisings in 
of Frankfort was in a panic; it made haste German y 
to repeal the Carlsbad Decrees and went so far as to adopt 
the once forbidden red, black, and gold flag as the em- 
blem of the Confederation. In both Prussia and Austria 
the democratic movement encountered serious opposition. 
King Frederick William IV tried to avert revolution by 
calling together a United Diet composed of delegates from 
the local assemblies; but this body refused to grant the loan 
demanded by the King and it was summarily dismissed. 
Matters became serious when a great mob appeared in the 
courtyard of the royal castle, shouting for a constitution 
and threatening open rebellion in case it was not granted. 
The King was compelled to appear on the balcony and he 
promised a written constitution and the summoning of a 
parliament. Inadvertently a fight broke out between the 
mob and the military in which several people were killed 
by the soldiers. Almost immediately Berlin was in a state 
of insurrection. Barricades went up and the streets became 
impassable; for several days street fighting raged between 
the citizens and the troops. The King endeavored in vain to 
appease "his dear Berliners" by assuring them of his good 
intentions, but the only thing which would satisfy the riot- 
ers was a withdrawal of the military, which was accordingly 
ordered; whereupon the tumultuous "March days" came 
to an end. 

A funeral service for those who had fallen in the barricade 
war was arranged in the courtyard of the royal castle. The 
bodies of the dead were wreathed in laurel, and Humiliation 
their gaping wounds exposed. Cries went up of the Prus- 
from the crowd below that the King come out 
and see his handiwork. As he appeared, the mob shouted, 

1 For a detailed description of the Revolution of 1848, see pp. 102, 205, 486. 



130 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

"Take off your hat!" The proud Hohenzollern obeyed and 
bowed low before the bodies of the dead citizens. He was 
now fearful that the monarchy would be entirely abolished ; 
so, in order to curry favor with the people, he ordered the 
red, black, and gold flag hoisted from the castle, and fer- 
vently announced that his only wish was for German free- 
dom and unity. 

A convention was then assembled at Berlin, which set 
about drafting a constitution. A radical document was 
A radical produced which made the King such in name 
constitution only, abolished the nobility, and provided for a 
propose parliament to be elected by universal suffrage. 

Freedom of speech, of assembly, of the press, and of religion 
were also guaranteed. 

But there was one power yet to be reckoned with, 
namely, the Prussian army, which remained loyal to the 
The Kin K m S- The latter recovered his courage as it 
recovers became evident that most of the Prussian peo- 

is poA p^ particularly the peasants, had no sympa- 

thy whatever with revolution, for they were still quite 
strongly attached to the Hohenzollern dynasty. Berlin was 
declared in a state of siege, and the army took charge of the 
situation. The convention was ordered dissolved and its pro- 
ceedings declared illegal. Many of the leaders of the revolu- 
tion were arrested, and thousands fled to America to escape 
punishment. Some of these "Men of '48," like Carl Schurz, 
General Franz Sigel, Francis Lieber, and Dr. Abraham 
Jacobi, became prominent citizens in their adopted country. 
Reaction took full swing, and all popular manifestations 
were sternly suppressed. On January 31, 1850, the King 
promulgated a constitution which left to him almost as 
much power as he had enjoyed before. It provided for a 
parliament whose influence in the Government was greatly 
circumscribed by its limited powers and by the undemo- 
cratic three-class system of election. 1 

1 See p. 280. 



CENTRAL EUROPE 131 

The Uprising in Austria 

The storm center of the Revolution of 1848 was Vienna, 
the citadel of despotism. The democratic revolution against 
the "Metternich system" in the Hapsburg do- Louis 
minions was complicated by a national uprising Kossutn 
of the subject races against Austrian domination. The lead- 
ing figure of the uprising was Louis Kossuth, the Hunga- 
rian patriot. Kossuth was a typical radical of the era of 
1848, for, although humanitarian in his sympathies and out- 
look, and a stanch believer in intellectual, political, and 
religious freedom, he was, nevertheless, strongly national- 
istic in his political opinions. Kossuth first became known 
as the militant editor of a democratic journal, and because 
of his radical views he was sent to prison for three years, 
where he employed his time studying the English language. 
Later, when visiting England and the United States on a 
speaking tour, he astonished his audiences by his extraor- 
dinary command of the English tongue. Kossuth was one 
of the great orators of the nineteenth century; his fine voice; 
dignified presence, and superb eloquence always aroused his 
countrymen to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. 

Hungary was then governed by a diet composed of two 
Tables, or Houses. The Table of Magnates was com- 
posed of great landed aristocrats who held their Government 
seats by hereditary right; the Table of Estates of Hungary 
was composed of representatives of the lower nobility, with 
a few from the middle and lower classes. The powers of the 
Diet were greatly limited, being subject to the control of 
the Emperor of Austria, who was also King of Hungary. 
The majority of the inhabitants of Hungary, Croatians, 
Serbs, and Rumanians, were Slavonic in race; they were 
peasants in a semi-feudal relation to their lords, who be- 
longed to the dominant race called the Magyars. 

Kossuth and his fellow- radical, Francis Deak, favored the 
abolition of the dues and services of the peasants, the equal- 
ity before the law of noble and non-noble, and the substi- 
tution of a democratically elected parliament for the aristo- 



132 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cratic Diet. They also strongly advocated the complete 
Kossuth autonomy, if not the independence, of Hungary. 

advocates Qn March 31, 1848, Kossuth delivered a stir- 

nationahsm . 

and democ- ring speech before the Hungarian Diet which 
electrified the entire Hapsburg dominions. He 
denounced the Austrian Government as apolitical charnel 
house whence came stifling odors and pestilential winds 
which deadened freedom and the national spirit. This 
speech, widely read and publicly declaimed, was the imme- 
diate cause of the revolt in Vienna. Barricades were erected 
in the streets, and revolution was soon in full swing under 
the leadership of students who organized themselves into 
an "Academic Legion." A mob surrounded the Imperial 
Palace, crying, "Down with Metternich!" The once power- 
ful statesman was compelled to flee in disguise to England, 
and the mob took its revenge by burning his house amid 
shouts of joy. With the flight of Metternich the whole sys- 
tem of repression, so laboriously constructed since the Con- 
gress of Vienna, went crashing to destruction. Emperor 
Ferdinand was compelled to grant a liberal constitution 
establishing a democratic parliament, to abolish the dues 
and services of the peasants, and to guarantee freedom of 
speech and of the press. 

In Hungary the march of revolution was even swifter. 
Under the influence of Kossuth the Diet passed the famous 
Democracy "March laws," which completely transformed 
alism ln° n " Hungary from a feudal to a modern state. A new 
Hungary constitution was adopted according to which the 
government of the country was to be in the hands of a Diet 
elected by the people. The privileges of the nobility and the 
dues and services of the peasants were abolished. Freedom 
of speech, of the press, and of religion were guaranteed. 
Radical changes were made in the relations between Hun- 
gary and Austria. Henceforth the former was to have its 
own army, its own national flag, its own system of taxes, 
and even the control of its own foreign relations. The 
capital was moved from Pressburg, near the Austrian 
frontier, to Buda-Pesth, in the heart of Hungary, which was 



CENTRAL EUROPE 133 

now united to Austria only by the slender tie of a personal 
union through the Emperor. Pressed by the revolution in 
Vienna, the latter was forced to consent to these revolu- 
tionary changes. 

In Lombardy-Venetia, the Italian provinces of Austria, 
rebellion was also rife, and the Imperial troops were expelled 
from several cities. Bohemia, too, raised the flag The Pan _ 
of revolt and was likewise granted liberal conces- Slavic 
sions. A movement was also begun to unite all 
the Slavic peoples against the hated domination of the 
Germanic Austrians. On June 2, 1848, was convened a Pan- 
Slavic Congress in the Bohemian city of Prague, to which 
came representatives from nearly all the Slavonic nations 
in Europe, although the majority of the members were the 
Czechs of Bohemia. As no one Slavic tongue was under- 
stood by all the delegates, they were forced to have recourse 
to the hated German language in conducting the Congress. 

The ancient House of Hapsburg, which had dominated 
Germany for five centuries and which had so markedly 
influenced the policies of Europe, was on the Division 
brink of ruin. Emperor Ferdinand fled from revolution- J 
Vienna and the capital fell completely into the ists 
hands of his rebellious subjects. The Hapsburg dominions 
were rapidly disintegrating and, for a time, it seemed as 
though the Empire would dissolve into many nations and 
possibly into anarchy and chaos. Yet there were several 
elements in the situation, serious as it was, favorable to 
the dynasty. When it came to dividing the fruits of vic- 
tory, the heterogeneous character of the population of the 
Empire was bound to produce discord among those who 
had just triumphed. To play off one race against the other 
and thereby divide the victors into hostile factions was 
the astute policy of the Government. Furthermore, in Ra- 
detzky and Windischgraetz two able generals were found, 
who were determined to suppress the rebellion at all costs. 

In Bohemia a bitter race feud arose between the Czechs 
and the Germans. The Government naturally supported the 
Germans ; and an army under Windischgraetz besieged and 



134 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

took the city of Prague. The Pan-Slavic Congress was 
Suppression ex P e ^ e d, and the concessions granted to Bohe- 
of the up- mia were withdrawn. The victorious Windisch- 
graetz now laid siege to Vienna, which surren- 
dered after a bombardment of five days. The army entered 
the city determined to put a stop to the "parliamentary 
game." Many of the revolutionists were imprisoned, exiled, 
or executed; Parliament was dissolved, and the Constitu- 
tion declared null and void. An army under Radetzky was 
sent to reduce the rebellious provinces in Italy, which he 
did most effectively, and Lombardy-Venetia once more 
came under Hapsburg rule. 

Hungary presented the most serious problem to the Gov- 
ernment; but the Hungarians played into its hands by their 
Division in refusal to share the newly won liberties with their 
Hungary Slavic fellow citizens. The arrogant Magyars 
determined to suppress the nationality of the Croats, Serbs, 
and Rumanians by making Hungarian the only official lan- 
guage in the country. A fierce race war now broke out 
between the Magyars and Slavs; and Austria, eager to 
drive the wedge of discord deep into the ranks of her ene- 
mies, promptly came to the aid of the Slavs. The Imperial 
Government declared the Hungarian Diet dissolved, and 
a Croat named Jellachich, who was bitterly hated by the 
Magyars, was given command of the Austrian army in 
Hungary. On December 2, 1848, Emperor Ferdinand was 
forced to abdicate ; he was succeeded by his nephew, Francis 
Joseph I, then a youth of eighteen. The purpose of this 
change was to have a pretext for abrogating the "March 
laws" which Ferdinand had sworn to uphold, as the Gov- 
ernment declared that Ferdinand's oath was not binding 
upon his successor. 

This action aroused the Hungarians to fury. Under the 
enthusiastic leadership of Kossuth, the Diet denounced the 
Conquest House of Hapsburg as perfidious and perjured; 
of Hungary an( j on April 1 4, 1 849, Hungary declared its inde- 
pendence of Austria. The Hungarians were now contending 
bravely against the Slavs in their midst, and against the 



CENTRAL EUROPE 135 

invading Austrian armies. But whatever doubt there was 
as to the outcome of the struggle was settled by the entrance 
of Russia on the side of Austria. Tsar Nicholas I regarded 
the uprising of the Hungarians with great misgiving; he 
feared lest an independent Hungarian Republic on his bor- 
ders would be an incentive to rebellion among the subject 
nationalities of Russia. Moreover, he was a fervent believer 
in absolutism, and he was therefore eager to come to the 
rescue of a fellow autocrat in distress. Russian armies 
poured over the Carpathian Mountains, and the Hungarian 
revolt was soon quelled. All the reforms granted to Hun- 
gary were abrogated, and she was reduced to the position 
of a province in the Empire. The leaders of the uprising 
were executed, but Kossuth managed to escape to Turkey. 

The National Movement 

The democratic outburst of 1848 in Germany was accom- 
panied by a corresponding movement for national unity. 
To weaken the princes meant to weaken the Die Wacht 
barriers which divided the German people, who am Rhem 
would have been glad to unite into one nation had they 
been given an opportunity to "do so. A wave of national 
sentiment had swept over Germany in 1840, when the 
French chauvinists began to agitate for the annexation of 
the left bank of the Rhine. It was then that the famous 
national anthem of Germany, Die Wacht am Rhein, was 
written; and a year later, another famous patriotic song, 
Deutschland, Deutschland ilber alles, appeared. 

The national momentum rose to a great height in 1848. 
A self-constituted body of liberals drew up a plan for a 
national assembly to be elected by universal The Frank . 
suffrage throughout the Confederation with the fort Assem- 
object of framing a constitution to unite the Ger- 
man people. This body was chosen and met in Frankfort 
on May 18, 1848, amid great enthusiasm, for it was uni- 
versally believed that the outcome would be a united 
Fatherland. The leaders of the Frankfort Assembly were 
not practical statesmen but scholars and poets, like the 



136 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

historians Dahlman and Droysen, the literary historian 
Gervinus, the philologist Jacob Grimm, and the poet Arndt. 
Unfortunately, much time was wasted in long and weary 
discussions of abstract questions such as "fundamental 
rights" and the "liberty of the individual," with the result 
that many of the delegates, disgusted with fhe doctrinaires, 
began to leave. 

The two most important questions before the Assembly 
were the inclusion or exclusion of Austria and the form of 
Division in government of the proposed union. On the first, 
Hyin S regard t ^ ie Assembly was sharply divided into two 
to Austria parties, the Grossdeutschen, or Great Germans, 
who wished to include Austria, and the Kleindeutschen, or 
Little Germans, who favored the exclusion of Austria on the 
ground that her population was largely non-German. This 
division of opinion soon developed into a rivalry between 
Austria and Prussia for the leadership of Germany. It was 
finally decided to admit only the German-speaking prov- 
inces of the Hapsburg dominions. On no condition would 
Austria consent to this plan, which she declared was an 
attempt to destroy her national unity. "Austria will know 
how to maintain her position in the projected German 
body politic," was the Hapsburg threat. 

On the question of the form of government there was a 
violent debate, a considerable number desiring a republic 
The Assem- ; or, at least, a constitutional monarchy. Finally, 
up y a d con- S it was a £ ree d that the union should be a federal 
stitution empire, presided over by a hereditary monarch ; 
and the Assembly voted to offer the position of Emperor to 
the King of Prussia. A liberal constitution was adopted for 
the proposed union providing for a legislature of two houses, 
a Senate representing the states and a Chamber represent- 
ing the people, with a Cabinet responsible to Parliament. 

A deputation from the Frankfort Assembly was then sent 
to Berlin to offer the imperial crown to King Frederick 
William IV. But that monarch had a horror of revolution, 
and regarded the deliberations of constitutional assemblies 
as an infringement of his favorite doctrine of divine right. 



CENTRAL EUROPE 137 

"Do not forget that there are still princes in Germany, 
and that I am one of them!" he had once ad- King Wil- 

. , , , ,. Tj ^ . liam refuses 

momsned a popular audience, it was against the crown 
his principles, against his temperament, to "pick ^ er f d by 
up a crown from the gutter," as he termed the bly 
offer of the Frankfort Assembly. The deputation was 
coolly, even insultingly, received by the King, who informed 
them that he could not accept the imperial crown without 
the consent of his fellow princes. 

The refusal of the Prussian King to be the leader of a 
unified democratic Germany meant that the work of the 
Assembly was fruitless, and many of the states Suppression 
now withdrew their delegations. Those who of the 
were left decided on a radical step, namely, to 
disregard the princes altogether and to call upon the Ger- 
man people to rise. But this rump Assembly was soon dis- 
persed by soldiers with drawn swords. 

Deep was the disappointment in Germany when this dem- 
ocratic attempt to unite the country failed so miserably, as 
great expectations had been aroused by the W hy the 
Frankfort Assembly when it first convened. Had Assembly 
that body contained men of daring and fore- 
sight, such as were found in the French National Assembly of 
1789, it might have seized the opportune moment in 1848, 
when princes were either yielding to popular demands or flee- 
ing from popular wrath, to make itself supreme in Germany. 
But the Assembly was too timid at first when it was strong, 
and too reckless at the end when it was weak. Moreover, 
the wordiness and incapacity of the delegates aroused dis- 
gust and ridicule and so cast discredit on democratic bodies 
generally. Ardent patriots were now compelled to look to 
sources other than popular conventions and to seek methods 
other than peaceful agitation to realize their long-deferred 
hope of a united Fatherland. 

Results of the Revolution of 1848 H 

Although popular assemblies were established in nearly 
all the German states, these bodies were so restricted in their 



138 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

powers and so undemocratically organized that the mon- 
Why the archs still continued to exercise supreme power. 
Revolution Absolutism had given way to semi-absolutism, 
not to democracy. The chief cause of this 
failure was that the uprising was largely the work of 
idealists among the middle class, professional men, stu- 
dents, merchants, and craftsmen, who were neither numer- 
ous nor strong enough to challenge an intrenched aristoc- 
racy backed by the armies of the princes. As the Industrial 
Revolution had hardly begun in Germany, there did not 
as yet exist a large working class and a powerful group of 
capitalists, the two elements which, together, would have 
been able to cope successfully with the system represented 
by absolute monarchy. 

Reaction was in full swing in Austria. The administration 
of the Empire was centralized in Vienna as it had never 
Reaction in been before, and the various national units were 
Austria treated as conquered provinces. German was 

decreed to be the only official language. Any demand for 
self-government, on either democratic or national lines, was 
speedily and severely suppressed. For a decade the Haps- 
burg dominions were under a provisional government and 
in a state of semi-martial law. However, one gain was made, 
as the revolutionary laws abolishing the dues and services 
of the peasants were not repealed. 

In Prussia the reaction was not so extreme as in Austria, 
for representative government was introduced by the re- 
Reaction in vised constitution of 1850. But the Prussian 
Prussia monarchy and bureaucracy now attained fresh 

and vigorous life just because they were now on a semi- 
democratic basis, and therefore in a position to command 
popular support. In 1850 the King of Prussia made an 
attempt to unify Germany by negotiations with the other 
princes. He was peremptorily ordered by Austria to aban- 
don his plans, which he meekly did in the Austrian town 
of Olmutz. This "humiliation of Olmutz," as it was called, 
served to infuriate the Prussian people as well as the King 
against Austria. 



CENTRAL EUROPE 139 

Intellectual Development 

Although the history of Germany during the first half 
of the nineteenth century was sterile politically, it was 
yet most fruitful intellectually. As the German intellectual 
people were prevented from expressing them- progress of 
selves in public life, their genius turned to 
philosophy, scholarship, and science, to which they made 
notable contributions. Philosophy, particularly, had always 
claimed Germany's attention. "History shows us," de- 
clared Hegel, "that when all but the name of philosophy 
was lost in other lands, it had maintained itself as the pecu- 
liar possession of the German nation, who have received 
from nature the high calling to be the guardians of this 
sacred fire." 

Next to Immanuel Kant, the greatest figure in German 
philosophy is Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1 770-1 831), 
the philosophic dictator of his day, whose in- 
fluence upon philosophic thought has been pro- 
found. To students of history, Hegel is especially inter- 
esting for the reason that he was one of the first to work 
out a systematic philosophy of history. In his book, The 
Philosophy of History, he propounds the idea that each 
period is characterized by the predominance of a "world 
people," who are possessed of a "universal idea" which 
must be given to mankind. Once this has been accom- 
plished, the "world people" has fulfilled its mission; it 
then sinks into decadence and yields the scepter to its 
successor. Conquest is, therefore, the victory of a superior 
idea; hence, might and right coincide. " Die Weltgeschichte 
ist das WeltgeYichV (Universal history shows the progress 
of universal justice). The Oriental, Greek, and Roman 
nations had once played this role in history; now a new 
"world people" had arisen, the Germans, who were to give 
their "universal idea" to mankind. He declared that al- 
though the need of German unity was deeply felt, the 
achievement of this result could never be the fruit of delib- 
eration, but of force; the divided Germans must, therefore, 



140 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

"be gathered into one by the violence of a conqueror." In 
another great work, The Philosophy of Law, Hegel glorifies 
the State as the very essence of freedom and reason. Its 
laws are the "footsteps of God upon earth"; through the 
State alone can the individual attain his highest devel- 
opment and social organization its supreme expression. 
The office of the State is not primarily to further individ- 
ual interest or protect private property; but, as the or- 
ganic expression of the people, its primary function is to 
embody the public weal of all classes and in all ways. He 
became so ardent a champion of the Prussian monarchy 
and so bitter an opponent of revolution that he was re- 
garded as the King's "official philosopher." The spirit of the 
people, he declared, does not speak through parliaments, 
but through the continuous life of the State as represented 
by the king. In his opinion aristocracy and democracy were 
primitive forms of government, both of which were super- 
seded by monarchy, the highest form yet devised. 

The great national revival which took place in Prussia 
after the Battle of Jena found expression in a renewed 
The Monu- study of German history. A gigantic historical 
menta enterprise was planned by a group of historians 

who proposed to reprint and edit all the sources relating to 
German history. The first volume of this series, which is 
known as the Monumenta Germanics Historica, was issued 
in 1826. Many volumes of the Monumenta have since ap- 
peared, and this documentary history of the German peo- 
ple has made for itself an enduring place in the world of 
scholarship. 

The first of the modern scientific historians was Leopold 
von Ranke (1 795-1 886), through whose influence German 
R , historical scholarship became supreme in Eu- 

rope. Ranke emphasized, above all things, the 
value of studying original sources, which, to him, were the 
very wells of historical truth. He ransacked the libraries 
and archives of Europe, and unveiled large masses of his- 
torical documents long unknown or forgotten, which are 
very valuable to students of history. He was one of those 



CENTRAL EUROPE 141 

to institute the ''seminar method" of training students to 
become professional historians by organizing small groups 
of scholars to make a systematic study of original docu- 
ments. Ranke's great aim was to rewrite the history of 
the world according to this rigorous, scientific method. 
He never completed the task, although his collected works 
number fifty-four volumes, the most important of which 
are the History of the Popes, the History of Germany during 
the Reformation, and the History of England during the 
Seventeenth Century. Ranke's ideal of historical composi- 
tion was a dispassionate presentation of facts "as they really 
were," unbiased by party, opinion, or nationality. The 
views and acts of important monarchs and statesmen, 
rather than the condition of the mass of the people, were 
for him the essence of history; hence, his books are cold and 
dry recitals of facts based largely on diplomatic correspond- 
ence and on the state papers of kings and ministers. A 
cosmopolitan, not a patriot, was Ranke in his point of view 
as a historian; hardly a trace is to be found in his writings 
of that fervid patriotism which was to be so distinguishing 
a feature of the works of his famous successor, Heinrich von 
Treitschke. 1 

German historical writing has produced no greater master 
than Theodor Mommsen (181 7-1903), whose famous His- 
tory of Rome continues to be the standard work _ , 

Mommsen 

on the subject. Although as great and as thor- 
ough a scholar as Ranke, Mommsen possessed, in addi- 
tion, a brilliant historical imagination which enabled him 
to reproduce the past in a most vivid and fascinating way. 
He was not only a narrator of facts, carefully gathered and 
scientifically classified, but also an interpreter of most 
original power. Mommsen's History, which appeared dur- 
ing the years 1854-56, treats of the life history of the 
Roman Republic. It is a condensation, in three volumes, 
of a vast period in human history without, however, omit- 
ting any important facts, a luminous and exact resume of 
all the available knowledge on the subject. His judgment 

1 See p. 171. 



142 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

on the overthrow of the Roman Republic is this: "When 
a government cannot govern, it ceases to be legitimate and 
he who has the power to overthrow it has also the right." 
Julius Caesar is the historian's hero. Him he regards as 
the true founder of Roman democracy which displaced a 
corrupt oligarchy masquerading as a republic. Momm- 
sen's history is mainly along political and constitutional 
lines, although it contains some excellent chapters on the 
social and economic life of the Romans. 

Jacob Grimm (i 785-1 863) was the founder of the sci- 
ence of German philology. His monumental work, Ger- 
man Grammar, is a history of the development 

Grimm 

of the German language and a comparative 
study of Teutonic dialects. He formulated the famous 
"Grimm's law," according to which the mute consonants 
have corresponding forms in all the Teutonic languages 
and have undergone certain definitely ascertained changes. 
Grimm combined great learning with bold generalization, 
which has given him a leading place among the philolo- 
gists of the world. He was also interested in folklore and, 
with his brother William, wrote the well-known fairy tales 
which have delighted generations of children. 

Young Germany in Literature 

As we have already seen, the strongest opposition to the 
" Metternich system" of repression was voiced by the ris- 
TT . ing generation. In literature Young Germany 

Heine . . . 

found a most eloquent champion in Heinnch 
Heine (1 797-1856), whose keen intelligence and brilliant 
wit sent many a barbed shaft straight to the heart of des- 
potism. It was the aim of this school of writers to enlist 
literature in the service of political reform. The result was 
that a new literary species was created, half-journalism 
half-literature, which, in the accomplished hands of Heine, 
became a most powerful weapon with which to fight the 
entrenched forces of reaction. Heine spent almost his en- 
tire life in political agitation, waging relentless warfare 
against despotic government and intellectual repression, 



CENTRAL EUROPE 143 

so that he could with truth declare, "Lay on my coffin a 
sword, for I was a brave soldier in the Liberation War of 
humanity." 

It is easier to read Heine's works than to describe them. 
Brimful of airy wit, poetic imagination, delicate sentiment, 
acid irony, and blasphemous scoffing; by turns, character of 
grave and gay; overflowing with pathos and Heine's 
stabbing with cruel irony — that is Heine. His 
comments on political and philosophic ideas have a pi- 
quancy seldom to be found in the discussion of such serious 
subjects. Such, for example, is his explanation of how lib- 
erty is loved by the various nations. "An Englishman loves 
liberty like his lawfully wedded wife. She is a possession. 
He may not treat her with much tenderness, but he knows 
how to defend her. A Frenchman loves liberty like his 
sweetheart, and he will do a thousand follies for her sake. 
A German loves liberty like his old grandmother. And yet, 
after all, no one can tell how things will turn out. The 
grumpy Englishman, in an ill-temper with his wife, is ca- 
pable of dragging her by a rope to Smithfield. The incon- 
stant Frenchman may become unfaithful to his adored 
and be off flirting around the Palais Royal with another. 
But the German will never quite desert his old grandmother; 
he will always keep for her a nook near the chimney-corner, 
where she can tell fairy tales to the listening children." 

Under Heine's magic touch German prose became sim- 
ple, easy, fluent, and plastic, almost like that of the great 
masters of French prose. His widely read Heine's 
Reisebilder {Pictures of Travel) is a unique work prose 
containing descriptions of places and scenes, criticism of 
current ideas, confessions, satirical comments on his con- 
temporaries, and poetical outbursts. This "German Aris- 
tophanes," as Heine called himself, was especially fond of 
directing the shafts of his brilliant wit against contemporary 
men, manners, and morals, which made him many bitter 
enemies. 

If Heine's pen was satirical, it was also lyrical; no man 
was more truly the poet born than this scoffer. His poems, 



144 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

collected in the famous Buck der Lieder {Book of Songs), 
Heine's have a lyric beauty unsurpassed in German 

poetry literature; their haunting charm and delicate, 

strange imagery, their simplicity and artlessness, their 
melody and sweetness, have made them known wherever 
the German tongue is spoken. Some, like The Lorelei and 
The Two Grenadiers, were set to music by famous com- 
posers and are sung over all the world. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 

Period of Absolute Rule 

Napoleon III was far too clever a man to establish a na- 
ked absolutism in France on the model of the ancien regime 
or even on that of his great uncle. Parliamen- Napoleon's 
tary government, although it had not yet be- f°» veHed"* 
come an integral element in the political life of absolutism" 
the French people, was nevertheless connected with the 
undying traditions of the great Revolution, and so some 
concessions had to be made to it. The newly created Em- 
peror resolved to inaugurate a system which would give 
the shadow but not the substance of self-government, in 
the belief that the French would be satisfied with such an 
arrangement, provided their attention was distracted by 
other activities. 

As we have already seen, the constitution adopted by 
the plebiscite 1 provided for a popularly elected parliament 
having considerable legislative authority. This How Napo- 
body must be made innocuous. A system of [roiiecftne ' 
nominating candidates was instituted with the elections 
object of electing members to the Corps legislatif, or lower 
House, favorable to the Emperor. In every constituency a 
strong political machine was organized, backed by the power 
and prestige of the Government, which nominated candi- 
dates for the Corps. Every form of pressure was brought to 
bear on the electors to vote for these "official candidates" as 
they were termed ; patronage was distributed to their sup- 
porters only and public money was used to further their elec- 
tion. The Republican candidates were hampered in every 
way: they were frequently forbidden to hold meetings and 
to form associations; threats of government persecution 
drove many of their followers from the polls ; moreover, the 

1 See p. 108. 



146 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

election machinery was in the hands of Imperial officials 
who used their power in favor of the "official candidates." 
In order to insure the election of the latter, the Government 
resorted to an outrageous system of "gerrymandering" 
with the purpose of making the Republicans a minority 
in every district. The powerful and highly centralized bu- 
reaucracy, always obedient and faithful to those in power 
at Paris, became the willing tool of the Emperor-boss 
whose hand was felt in all stages of political life, from the 
nomination of a candidate for parliament to the passing of 
laws, from the appointment of a petty local official to that 
of prime minister. Although universal suffrage was main- 
tained, very few of the opponents of the Emperor were 
elected to the House. In the election of 1857 nearly all the 
"official candidates" were chosen. Only five members op- 
posed to the Empire were elected. "The Five," as they 
were called, consisted of distinguished Republicans like 
Emile Ollivier and Jules Favre, who voiced the sentiments of 
opposition to absolutism. 

Napoleon was bound to make sure of the loyal support 
of even this "official" parliament by controlling its inter- 
TT , nal organization. The President of the House 

How he & .... 

controlled was appointed by the Emperor; no publication 
ar lament Q £ j ts debates was permitted ; and all import- 
ant committees were appointed through the Emperor's 
influence. As the powers of this body were negative, the 
Council of State became the center of legislation; there 
bills were drawn up by the appointees of the Emperor 
and then submitted for ratification to the House. Ac- 
cording to the Constitution, the Second Empire was a 
parliamentary monarchy; in reality it was an autocracy. 

No more important organ of public opinion exists in 
France than the press. There obtains among the French 
The French people a passion for ideas and for discussion 
press unequaled anywhere else in the world ; freedom 

of thought is, therefore, prized above all other liberties 
handed down by the Revolution. Often scurrilous and sen- 
sational, the Paris journals are brilliantly edited and gen- 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 147 

erally independent in their views. To establish a newspaper 
in France costs comparatively little, as a French journal 
usually consists of about eight pages or less, and is generally 
badly printed on paper of a poor quality. Any one with a 
gift for writing and ideas to express easily establishes a paper 
which is read, not for its news, for it contains little, but for 
the leading articles by the editor. Many journals are born 
annually in Paris, to live but for a short time, which give 
expression to the rich and varied intellectual life of France, 
that is ever buoyant and fruitful. Political caricature is the 
great weapon of the Parisian journalist; and French car- 
toons are apt to be sharp, cruel, and biting, and drawn with 
unusual skill. 

As a rule the Paris press is critical of every regime in 
power, but it has generally remained faithful to the spirit 
of the Revolution and has been the sworn enemy Radicalism 
of all absolutism, naked or masked. Napoleon p r( f n ch 
knew perfectly well the great power of this press, press 
which had had an abundant share in sending Charles X 
and Louis Philippe into exile, so he determined to suppress 
it. As usual, he did it in a roundabout way. He declared 
himself fervently for the principle of freedom of thought, 
and then proceeded to make regulations to strangle it. No 
new journal could be established without government per- 
mission, which was refused to those suspected of being re- 
publican. Those that received permission had to deposit a 
large sum with the Government as security for good behav- 
ior, which was forfeited in case the journal became hostile 
to the Emperor. A system of press warnings was established ; 
after two warnings to the editor to stop his criticism, 
the paper was suspended or suppressed. Press offenses 
were tried in the police court, without a jury, and were 
summarily dealt with. Fine, imprisonment, or exile was 
often the lot of republican journalists who dared to attack 
the Government. 

The Emperor next laid a heavy hand on the universities. 
French intellectuals, writers, teachers, and artists, are sel- 
dom content to remain so absorbed in their own specialties 



148 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

as to become oblivious to the problems of their day. They 
Suppression frequently take a vigorous part in public af- 
of the in- fairs, and more than once they have become the 

tellectuals , r . . ~, 

spokesmen of the nation, lhe poet-statesman, 
Lamartine; the historian-statesmen, Guizot and Thiers; the 
poet-agitator, Victor Hugo; the philosopher-statesman, 
Jules Simon; the novelist-agitators, Emile Zola and Anatole 
France; all have walked in the footsteps of the philosophers 
of the eighteenth century, who established a tradition in 
France that it is the special duty of a man of culture to 
champion the highest ideals of his nation and of humanity. 
The French intellectuals were almost a unit in opposing 
the "crowned conspirator," Napoleon III. The day after 
the coup d'etat of December 2, Jules Simon, Professor of 
Philosophy, when meeting his class at the Sorbonne, made 
the following statement which rang throughout France: 
"Gentlemen, it is my duty here to teach you philosophy. 
To-day, I owe you not a lesson, but an example. France is 
to be convoked to-morrow to approve or disapprove of 
what has just taken place. If there is going to be recorded 
one vote of disapproval, I wish to say to you now, openly, 
that it will be mine." He was immediately dismissed from 
his position. The historians, Michelet and Quinet, were like- 
wise ousted from their academic chairs for opposing the 
Empire. The courses in philosophy and religion given by 
the famous Renan were suppressed. Victor Hugo was driven 
into exile. Two subjects, history and philosophy, were re- 
garded with suspicion by the Government. Teaching in 
these fields was discouraged ; and courses in modern history 
were entirely suppressed. 

Napoleon, like his uncle, was desirous of founding a 
dynasty. He sought to marry into the royal families of 
Napoleon's Europe, but without success, as no dynasty had 
court sufficient confidence in his future. Failing in this, 

he married a beautiful Spanish lady, Eugenie de Montijo, 
for love and not for her antecedents. Under the Second 
Empire the court became a center of fashion and of gayety 
which attracted many people from all parts of the world. 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 149 

Innumerable banquets and fancy-dress balls were organized 
to which almost any one having money could gain entrance, 
as the Emperor wished to encourage the idea of a demo- 
cratic court. Thither came all sorts of people, penniless 
adventurers, newly rich bankers, stock-jobbers, political 
schemers, gamblers, "bohemians," as well as men of letters 
and of science. Napoleon III, who was a conspirator by 
temperament, naturally surrounded himself with a group 
of advisers better known for their crafty, unscrupulous 
methods than for their solid statesmanship. Chief of these 
was the illegitimate half-brother of the Emperor, the Duke 
de Morny, a cool, elegant, cynical man of fashion, who was 
master of the undercurrents of Parisian politics, business, 
and society. The Duke de Morny was appointed President 
of the House, which he managed with great ability in the 
service of absolutism. 

At no time did this government by adventurers receive 
the enthusiastic support of the French people. The royal- 
ists regarded the Second Empire with contempt Napoleon's 
and the Emperor as a charlatan, and scrupu- ^Ited not 
lously kept away from his gaudy, democratic supported 
court. The Republicans were banished from public life; 
their leaders either were in prison or in hiding, or had exiled 
themselves. Napoleon was not so much upheld as he was 
tolerated by the large number of property-owners, peasants 
and bourgeoisie, who looked upon him as the "savior of so- 
ciety" because the revolutionary socialists were kept in 
check by a strong military government. Under the great 
Napoleon these two elements, the peasants and the bour- 
geoisie, had combined against the old nobility; under his 
nephew they combined against the working class. 

Social and Economic Progress 
In spite of many serious defects of character, the Emperor 
had a kindly sympathy for the unfortunate Napoleon's 
classes and for unfortunate nations. He sincerely care for the 
believed that the Napoleonic idea meant the 
welfare of all the people, and he criticized the royalists for 



150 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

being the champions of the aristocrats only ; he also charged 
that parliamentary government, whether royal or republi- 
can, represented the interests of the middle classes; the 
Empire was to advance the interests of all classes, including 
the hitherto neglected proletariat. In 1844 he wrote a pam- 
phlet, "On the Extinction of Pauperism," which showed 
the influence of the Utopian socialist, Saint-Simon. 1 In this 
essay he declared his willingness to ameliorate the lot "of 
the class which was most numerous and most poor" by 
establishing agricultural colonies along cooperative lines. 
Marked activity was shown by the Government in favor of 
the poor. Many charitable foundations, such as hospitals, 
asylums, and public pawnshops, were established. Sanitary 
dwellings for workingmen were built at public expense. Ar- 
bitration of disputes between employer and employee was 
greatly encouraged by the establishment of industrial 
bodies, Conseils de Prudliommes, representing both sides 
and presided over by government officials. A beginning was 
also made in establishing systems of old-age pensions and 
sickness and accident insurance by the grant of subsidies 
to societies having these objects in view. "Saint-Simon on 
horseback," his admirers called the Emperor. 

As Napoleon had a wholesome fear of the unemployed 
Parisian laborer, the building of public works which gave 
Rebuilding employment to many was greatly encouraged 
of Pans by him; at the same time it served to improve 

and beautify the cities and give renown to his reign. The 
Emperor's greatest achievement in this field was the crea- 
tion of the new Paris. Under the direction of the great 
civic architect, Baron Haussmann, the capital was almost 
completely remodeled. From a semi-medieval town, with 
narrow, crooked streets, paved, if at all, with cobblestones, 
there appeared the most beautiful city in the world, the 
present Paris, with its magnificent boulevards, smoothly 
paved streets, and superb squares. Street revolutions were 
now impossible, as barricades could not so easily be impro- 
vised as in 1830 and 1848; and a mob charging along a 

1 See p. 574. 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 151 

broad avenue would be exposed to artillery fire and to the 
cavalry. Thousands from all over the world crowded to see 
the beautiful city which became the pleasure capital of the 
world. Places of amusement of all types, from the highest 
to the lowest, were encouraged by the authorities, and Paris 
began to acquire an unenviable reputation as the modern 
Babylon. Parisian shopkeepers reaped a golden harvest 
from the many visitors who spent their money freely in 
order to enjoy "Parisian life." 

The Second Empire is the great period of the expansion 
of French industry. France was now in a fever of business 
enterprise, and able men forsook politics for Encourage- 
commerce. Napoleon III, greatly desiring the ^"ness 
support of a wealthy class that would owe its enterprise 
prosperity to his policies, did everything in his power to 
encourage business undertakings and to avoid war. "The 
Empire means peace because France desires it; and when 
France is satisfied, the world is at peace," he had announced 
at the beginning of his reign. He declared his preference for 
"moral and material conquests" to those on the field of 
battle. Factories were built and machine production made 
rapid headway. 1 Foreign commerce increased five-fold dur- 
ing the period of the Second Empire. 2 There was also a 
marked development in the metallurgical industries through 
the introduction of the Bessemer process and through the 
consolidation of many small steel plants into a few large ones. 3 

Most notable progress of all was in the improvement of 
the means of transportation. In 1850 there were in all 
France about eighteen hundred miles of railway improve- 
operated by many small companies. Rates were J^ansporta- 
high, service bad, and management wasteful, tion 
A law was passed in that year which completely transformed 

1 The total horse-power of machines used in industry in 1855 was 66,642; 
in 1869 it had risen to 320,447. 

2 In 1850 the total foreign commerce of France, excluding precious metals, 
amounted to about $371,800,000; in 1870 it was $1,134,000,000. 

3 In 1869 France produced 1 10,200 tons of steel, which was almost ten times 
as much as the quantity produced in 1848. The production of coal also greatly 
increased; in 1850 France produced 4,434,000 tons; in 1870, 13,330,000 tons. 



152 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the railway system. The railways were given ninety-nine- 
year leases in order to assure them stability; the Govern- 
ment guaranteed four per cent interest on capital invested 
in new lines; and all the railways were consolidated into six 
trunk lines under the management of as many companies. 
By 1869 the railway mileage had increased to about ninety- 
five hundred. Marine transportation was also improved 
through the substitution of large iron ships for small wooden 
ones. 1 In 1861 was organized the first transatlantic steaniT 
ship line, that of the Compagnie Generate Transatlantique, 
which established through the aid of government subsi- 
dies a direct route from France to America. The improve- 
ment in the means of transportation greatly advanced in- 
ternal commerce, particularly in agricultural products, which 
could now find a profitable market in the growing cities. 

A spirit of speculation seized the French. There came a 
period of rising prices, rising profits, and rising wages, and 
Financial many became rich quickly, though many others 
establish- were ruined through over-speculation. Notable 
financial institutions were founded through gov- 
ernment aid, like the Credit foncier and the Credit mobilier, 
which loaned money at liberal rates, and Paris began to 
rival London as a banking center. 

An important change in the tariff policy of France took 
place under the Second Empire. The French economist, 
Revision of Michel Chevalier, was a friend of Richard Cob- 
the tariff c j en anc ^ j^e ^hr^ an ardent free-trader; he 

persuaded Napoleon to abandon protection in favor of free 
trade. During 1853-55, imperial decrees considerably low- 
ered the tariff on oil, iron, steel, and wool, although free 
trade was not established. The Emperor secretly negoti- 
ated a reciprocity agreement with England in a treaty 
agreed upon by Chevalier and Cobden. This commercial 
treaty of i860 bound each nation to establish low duties 
on the products of the other. In 1861 a uniformly low duty 
was put on agricultural products. The tariff on foreign- 

1 In 1870 the French merchant marine was second to that of Great Britain. 
It had a tonnage of about 1,000,000, of which 200,000 was under steam. 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 153 

built ships was entirely removed. A law was passed which 
did away with the old colonial system by making the tariff 
policy of the French colonies uniform with that of the 
mother country. Napoleon's low-tariff policies aroused 
bitter opposition in Parliament, and his secret treaty with 
England was denounced by the protectionists as an "eco- 
nomic coup d'etat." 

In 1855 there took place the first Paris Exposition. 
Thousands of persons from all over the world came to see 
the products of French industry and art and to The Paris 
admire the beautiful capital. The Emperor's Ex P osltlon 
renown spread far and wide. He was now universally ad- 
mired as a far-sighted statesman who had brought order, 
peace, and prosperity to his country. Even the royal fam- 
ilies of Europe, whose attitude toward him had hitherto 
been disdainful, now began to cultivate friendly relations 
with him. 

The Empire and the Church 

Like Napoleon I, Napoleon III regarded the Catholic 
Church as the bulwark of social and political conservatism 
and he therefore sought its support. When Presi- The Em - . 
dent, he had won the hearts of the Catholics by vates good 
sending a French army to Rome to restore Pope ^h'^e 
Pius IX to his authority as temporal ruler of the Church 
Papal States. 1 This Roman expedition was vehemently 
denounced by the anti-clericals in France, but it received 
the enthusiastic support of the Catholics, who acclaimed 
Napoleon as the defender of the Church. While Emperor, he 
was assiduous in showing deference to the clergy, who were 
given control of public education and charity. Religious 
exercises were associated with all public acts, and religious 
societies were greatly encouraged by the Government. 

There was a division among the Catholics with regard 
to what attitude the Church was to take toward The Liberal 
modern society. Those known as "Ultramon- Cathohcs 
tanes" favored a policy of no compromise with modern 

1 See p. 207. 



154 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

social, political, and cultural ideas, and insisted that good 
Catholics must take all their views from the Pope "beyond 
the mountains." Others, known as "Liberal Catholics," 
although in full accord with the Ultramontanes in religious 
doctrines, differed from them in regard to secular matters; 
they favored a reconciliation of the Church with modern 
democracy, and therefore advocated a parliamentary sys- 
tem of government. The Liberal Catholics were a small 
group of remarkable men who exercised a deep influence 
on their contemporaries in spite of the fact that they never 
had a large following. They numbered, among others, the 
scholar and statesman, Montalembert, the great pulpit 
orator, Lacordaire, and the zealous and eloquent Bishop 
Doupanloup. 

A most interesting figure was Abbe Lamennais, the fore- 
runner of the Liberal Catholics, who gained prominence 
throughout Europe by his famous book, Essay on 

Lamennais ° , . , , 

Indifference (1817). In most eloquent language 
he declared his loyalty to the Catholic faith which, he 
asserted, was being stifled by its connection with the 
State; separation of Church and State, he argued, would 
leave the Church free to pursue its divine mission. Lamen- 
nais also became an ardent believer in democracy, and he 
gathered about him a brilliant group of young Catholics, 
among them Montalembert and Lacordaire, who became 
his ardent disciples. To give expression to his views he 
founded a paper, VAvenir {The Future), with "God and 
Liberty" as its motto, whose mission was to Christian- 
ize French democracy, which, he declared, was under the 
influence of Voltaire. It demanded of the Church that it 
sever its allegiance from the royalist parties, and of the Re- 
publicans that they grant to the Catholics "liberty of teach- 
ing," or the equality of the Church with the State in all 
educational matters. 

Lamennais and his group encountered strong opposition 
within the Church. Pope Gregory XVI condemned their 
views as "absurd and erroneous," and their paper was 
suspended. This was the breaking point, and Lamennais 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 155 

began to turn away from the Church, although his fol- 
lowers submitted. In 1834 appeared his little Lamennais 
volume, Words of a Believer, which was widely leaves the 

_ . , Church 

read throughout Europe. It is a poetic and pas- 
sionate eulogy of liberty, and almost mystical in its love 
of democracy. This "apostle of the people," as Lamennais 
was called, became more and more radical in his politics 
and more and more heretical in his theology. He finally 
left the Church and ended his days as a preacher of Chris- 
tian socialism. 

Both Ultramontanes and Liberal Catholics had endorsed 
the coup d'etat of Napoleon, who had won the latter by 
his advocacy of the Falloux Law, 1 which recog- Catholics 
nized the principle of "liberty of teaching" so endorse 
dear to them. The spokesman of the Ultramon- 
tanes was Louis Veuillot, the brilliant editor of the Catholic 
journal, L'Univers, who hailed the destruction of the Sec- 
ond Republic as a victory of order and religion over the 
"Reds," or Socialists. The Liberal Catholics were less en- 
thusiastic. Montalembert declared that "to vote for Louis 
Napoleon does not mean to endorse all that he did ; it means 
to choose between him and the total ruin of France." 

The Italian War of 1859 2 marked the beginning of strained 
relations between the Church and the Empire. The clericals 
denounced the Italian expedition as strongly as Strained 

.,.,,, , , relations 

the anti-clericals had at one time denounced between 
the Roman; they realized that through French f n a d p ° h e e on 
aid Italy would be united, and that this would Church 
inevitably lead to the loss of the Pope's temporal power. 
They openly denounced Napoleon as an enemy and traitor 

1 This was an education act, passed in 1850, which gave to the Catholic 
Church the control of education. The schools conducted by the Church were to 
receive public support. Priests and nuns having a "letter of obedience" from 
their bishop could be engaged to teach in public schools; lay teachers were re- 
quired to have a certificate from the State. To the parish priest was given 
the power to supervise the instruction given in the elementary schools. An 
important provision in this law gave to Catholic colleges equal right with the 
University of France to grant degrees; hitherto the latter had enjoyed a mo- 
nopoly of this right. 

2 See p. 213. 



156 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to the Church, and organized a powerful opposition to him 
in Parliament. The anti-clericals, on the contrary, hailed the 
Emperor's alliance with the Italian democrats as a good au- 
gury for liberalism at home as well as abroad. Catholic jour- 
nals that attacked the Government were suppressed, and 
collections of money in France for the Pope were forbidden. 

The Liberal Empire 

In his great desire to win the favor of every class and of 
every party, Napoleon succeeded in winning the enmity of 
Growing all. His strongest supporters hitherto, the Catho- 
to ^he* 1011 ^ cs > were now m opposition ; the powerful manu- 
Empire facturing interests were incensed at his low-tariff 

policies; the Liberals denounced the Empire for deserting 
stCavour; 1 and nothing that he would do could, of course, 
satisfy the Republicans. He felt that liberalism might bring 
new strength to the dynasty, so he resolved on a policy of 
concessions. In, 1859 a general amnesty was granted to 
those who had been driven out of France for their political 
views. During the following year Parliament was allowed 
more freedom; it was now permitted to frame an address 
criticizing the Government, and its debates were allowed 
to be published. -The press laws were also generally relaxed. 
These concessions resulted in increasing instead of decreas- 
ing the attacks of the opposition. A Liberal union was 
formed consisting of Republicans, royalists, and clericals, 
and it managed to elect thirty-five members to the House in 
the elections of 1863, in spite of the system of "official candi- 
dates," which was still maintained. This frightened the 
Emperor into more concessions. An anti-clerical, the his- 
torian Victor Duruy, was appointed Minister of Education, 
and he used his power to combat the influence of the Church 
in public education. 

Napoleon's rising unpopularity was enhanced by his 
ill-starred Mexican expedition. 2 Taking advantage of the 

1 See p. 213. 

2 A Swiss banker named Jecker had loaned money to the Mexican Revolu- 
tionary Government which he was unable to collect. Through a corrupt bar- 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 157 

Civil War in the United States, he intervened in Mexico 
on the alleged ground that sufficient protection The Mexi _ 
was not given to foreign citizens; his real aim, can expe- 
however, was to play a grand role in American 
affairs in order to revive his waning popularity. In 1862 
a French army was landed in Mexico which overthrew the 
Republic and established an empire under the protection of 
France. Archduke Maximilian, brother of Emperor Francis 
Joseph of Austria, was chosen Emperor. This course aroused 
great opposition among the Mexican people, who rose in 
rebellion against Emperor Maximilian and the French 
troops supporting him. At the close of the American Civil 
War the Washington Government demanded the immediate 
withdrawal of the French army on the ground that their 
presence was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Napoleon 
now deserted Maximilian as he had once deserted Cavour; 
the unfortunate Emperor was seized by the Mexicans and 
shot, and the Mexican Republic was reestablished. 

The disastrous outcome of the Mexican expedition re- 
acted seriously on the fortunes of the Emperor, as it had 
been expensive, humiliating, and utterly useless. The Liberal 
The opposition to him became bolder and sharper Em P ire 
than ever before. Thiers made a great speech demanding 
the "necessary liberties." A group was formed, calling itself 
the Third Party, composed of Liberals who desired a regime 
that would steer a middle course between an autocratic 
empire and a democratic republic. They demanded freedom 
of elections, of speech, and of association, and the responsi- 
bility of Ministers to Parliament. Their leader was Emile 
Ollivier, a former Republican, who desired to play the role 
of the reconciler of the Empire with liberty. He was de- 
nounced as a traitor by the Republicans, but was welcomed 
by Napoleon as the statesman of the Liberal Empire which 
was about to be inaugurated. During 1867-69 the way was 
being prepared for the new political edifice, "the Empire 

gain with the Duke de Morny, who was promised a portion of this money, 
Jecker was made a French citizen by an Imperial decree. The French Gov- 
ernment then took up his claim, which furnished Napoleon a pretext for inter- 
vention in Mexico. 



158 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

crowned with liberty . . . equally removed from reaction 
and from revolutionary theories." Parliament was given 
the full right of interpellation, censorship of the press was 
greatly moderated, and public meetings were more freely 
permitted. 

These concessions satisfied many, but they merely 
strengthened the opposition of the irreconcilable Repub- 
Henri licans, who wanted nothing less than the aboli- 

Rochefort t j on Q f ^e Empire and the establishment of a 
democratic republic. During the last days of the Empire 
there emerged two remarkable men, Gambetta and Roche- 
fort, who declared war & outrance against the Government 
and all its works, good and bad. Henri Rochefort was a 
brilliant journalist wielding a rapier-like pen, who, in 1868, 
founded a weekly paper, La Lanterne (The Lamp-Post), 
which began a merciless attack upon the Emperor and his 
Government. This paper, which quickly won an enormous 
circulation, was suppressed many times and its editor driven 
into exile; but as often as it was suppressed it reappeared 
under a different name and in a different place. 

During the same year a trial took place in France which 
attracted considerable attention. It was that of a journalist 
Leon who was being prosecuted by the Government 

Gambetta f or starting a subscription to raise a monument to 
a Republican named Baudin, one of the victims of the coup 
d'etat of 1 85 1. A young lawyer, hitherto unknown, named 
Leon Gambetta, was chosen to defend him. Instead of con- 
fining himself to the defense of his client, Gambetta delivered 
a terrific indictment of the Second Empire, denouncing its 
origin as criminal, its conduct as tyrannical, and prophesy- 
ing its speedy downfall. "On the Second of December," he 
declared, "there grouped themselves around a pretender 
men whom France had never before known, men without 
talent, without honor, without rank, without position; men 
of the type who in all times have been the organizers of con- 
spiracies. . . . And these men had the audacity to pretend 
that they were the saviors of France." He went on to de- 
nounce the character of the government founded by these 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 159 

conspirators, and ended with a peroration which resounded 
throughout the country: " Listen, you, who for seventeen 
years have been the absolute masters of France. . . . The 
proof of your remorse is that you have never dared to say: 
'Let us consecrate the Second of December as a solemn 
national holiday as the men of 1789, 1830, and 1848 cele- 
brated the days of their triumph.' . . . This anniversary 
which you have refused to signalize, we will take for our- 
selves. We shall celebrate each year, regularly and without 
fail, the memory of those who fell on that day, until the 
time will come when the country, having regained her 
freedom, shall impose upon you a great national expiation 
in the name of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." 

Never had the Empire been denounced with such invec- 
tive and with such thrilling eloquence ; the speech sounded 
like the coming doom of the Napoleonic regime. Gambetta 
This speech made Gambetta famous. He imme- P r °s ram 
diately sprang to the forefront of the opposition and be- 
came the rising hope of the irreconcilable Republicans, who 
hailed him as their leader. His program demanded the 
establishment of a parliamentary republic based on univer- 
sal suffrage, separation of Church and State, public secular 
education, and complete freedom of speech and of association. 
"The dominant idea in my political activity," he declared, 
"is the sovereignty of the people, completely and thor- 
oughly organized. I am a radical democrat, passionately 
devoted to the principles of liberty and fraternity, and I 
shall tirelessly aim to show that Caesarian democracy is 
incompatible with the ideals and methods of true democ- 
racy." 

In the elections of 1869 the opposition had grown to 
ninety members, among the elected being Gambetta and 
Rochefort. In the face of the advance of repub- The Empire 
licanism, which was daily becoming more threat- becomes a 

it- constitu- 

ening and defiant, the Emperor turned to the tional 
counsels of moderation offered by the Third monarch y 
Party. A series of decrees, the most notable being that of 
April 20, 1870, deprived the Senate of its power to amend 



160 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the Constitution and gave the House full control over all 
legislation. The Empire was now fully a constitutional 
monarchy, and the ex-Republican Ollivier was appointed 
Prime Minister, with a cabinet composed of men of all 
parties except the Republican. Napoleon was anxious to 
get popular approval for the Liberal Empire, as he was 
half sincere in his constant assertion that the Empire was 
based on a democratic ideal. He determined, therefore, to 
submit his reforms to a plebiscite, which, he thought, would 
give him the popular backing that he needed to face the 
bitter attacks of the Republicans, who denounced the 
Ollivier Ministry as "sentinels who mounted guard" over 
despotism. On May 8, 1870, the electors were asked to 
vote on the following proposition: "The French nation 
approves the liberal reforms made in the Constitution since 
i860 and ratifies the decrees of 1870." The result showed 
an overwhelming approval of the Emperor's course, as 
about seven and a half millions voted "yes" and only one 
and a half, "no." This was a great disappointment to the 
Republicans, who seemed discredited. To all appearances 
the new regime was now firmly established, and Napoleon 
was congratulated by his Ministers, who assured him of 
"a happy old age" as Emperor and of the undisputed suc- 
cession of his son, the Prince Imperial. 

Foreign Policy 

Napoleon's declaration that the Empire meant peace 
was sincerely meant. But he well knew that his name had 
War a neces- aroused the imagination of the French people, 
sity for an d that he owed his success to the popular be- 

lief that a Napoleonic regime would establish 
France once more as la grande nation of Europe. To pursue 
a peace policy would, therefore, invite disaster to the Em- 
pire, as it had to the bourgeois monarchy of Louis Philippe. 
In the tortuous maze of the Emperor's constantly shifting 
foreign policy there stands out one dominant purpose, 
namely, nationalism. France, if she went to war, was to 
do so, not to conquer territory for herself, but to conquer 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 161 

liberty for oppressed nationalities. "When she draws her 
sword," declared the Emperor, "it is not to dominate, but 
to liberate." Such a course would prove his loyalty to the 
principles of the French Revolution, which he so warmly 
professed, and gain renown for the French arms. 

Unlike his great uncle, Napoleon was no soldier, although 
he carefully cultivated the appearance of one. It was his 
custom to ride in resplendent uniform on a Evil condi . 
black charger, and his detractors insinuated that tions in the 
he rouged his cheeks and wore a corset in order 
to make a fine appearance on parade. The army was com- 
posed mainly of professional soldiers, though, in theory, all 
citizens were required to serve. Exemption could easily be 
obtained by paying a sum of money to the Government or 
by hiring a substitute; those who could not do so were 
obliged to serve seven years. Proposals for universal mili- 
tary service were made several times in Parliament, but 
were never enacted into law, as the idea was very unpopular 
among the middle classes; consequently the standing army 
was small, its total war footing in i860 being about six 
hundred thousand men. Although the French army, with 
its gaudy new uniforms and dashing appearance, made a 
fine impression on parade, it was badly organized and in- 
efficiently officered. Napoleon had filled it with political 
generals who were at best incompetent and at worst, cor- 
rupt; the defeats of 1870 were largely due to the Emperor's 
demoralizing influence. Lacking true efficiency, a spirit of 
braggadocio was encouraged among the soldiers, who were 
given to boasting of their warlike qualities and of their 
superiority over all other soldiers. 

Napoleon's policy in war was to associate himself with 
allies; in case of victory, he could claim the credit, and 
in case of defeat, he could put the blame on The wars of 
the others. What he dreaded most of all was an the Second 
unsuccessful war; a Napoleon that could not win 
would be ridiculous, and would be quickly driven from 
power. In 1854 France joined England and Turkey in mak- 
ing war upon Russia. The motives for Napoleon's entrance 



162 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

into the Crimean War 1 were mixed, like all his motives: he 
saw an opportunity for great personal popularity, as the 
Allies were bound to be successful ; he was unfriendly to Tsar 
Nicholas I because the latter had not fully recognized him 
as a fellow sovereign ; and he hoped also to avenge the First 
Empire by humiliating Russia, which had been instrumental 
in its downfall. In 1859 he joined Sardinia in attacking 
Austria. Here again his motives were mixed. He sincerely 
and warmly sympathized with Italian unity and wished to 
help attain it ; he desired to awaken the great military mem- 
ories of the First Empire by driving Austrians out of Italy; 
but he also wanted territory, Nice and Savoy. The success- 
ful outcome of these two wars put France once more at the 
pinnacle of international power. For a time Napoleon 
played the role of dictator in Europe; no treaty could be 
entered into, no territorial changes could be made, and no 
diplomatic policy inaugurated without his being consulted. 
This greatly inflated the pride of la grande nation and added 
to the popularity of the Emperor, who was beginning to feel 
that he, too, had a "star." But it was a pinchbeck imperial- 
ism that Napoleon gave to the French people. Behind the 
resplendent Court, subservient bureaucracy, and magnifi- 
cently attired army, there was incompetence, corruption, 
discontent, and short-sightedness which, in case of a real 
trial of strength with a powerful foe, would send France 
headlong to disaster. 

Napoleon's misunderstanding of Prussia's ambition, his 
total lack of appreciation of the strength of the national 
Napoleon's sentiment in Germany, his absurd misjudgment 
understand °f tne character of Bismarck, and his fatal in- 
Prussia consistency in opposing the national unity of 

Germany were to end in his undoing. In 1865 there took 
place a famous interview at Biarritz between Bismarck and 
Napoleon III about the Schleswig-Holstein question. Bis- 
marck was eager to obtain the neutrality of France in his 
coming conflict with Austria, in order to free Prussia from 
anxiety on account of her western frontier. Napoleon con- 

1 See p. 629. 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 163 

sented, and France committed the fatal error of remaining 
neutral during the Seven Weeks' War. 1 He had no idea 
of the real strength of Prussia, and therefore felt sure that 
she would be defeated; or, if she were not, that both nations 
would exhaust themselves in a long-drawn-out war, which 
•would give him the opportunity of interfering to gain some- 
thing for France, possibly the left bank of the Rhine. Even 
Sadowa failed to undeceive him. Had he intervened even 
then, as Austria was urging him to do, Prussia might have 
been compelled to yield, for what she greatly feared was an 
attack in the rear. But the propitious moment passed. 
Napoleon's blindness, his fatal fatuity, his vacillation may, 
in part, be attributed to a racking illness from which he 
was then suffering and which may have dulled his otherwise 
acute mind. Only when Prussia was completely victorious 
did he come forward with his irritating demand that the 
southern states be left out of the German union. Prussia 
yielded, but she resolved that France should pay dearly for 
trying to block the road to German unity. 

"Revenge for Sadowa" now became the cry in France. 
The drift of events beyond the Rhine was now understood, 
as it seemed perfectly evident that all Germany The mili 
would soon unite in a powerful single state, tary party 
The feeling between the French and the Ger- 
mans was constantly growing more bitter; and the news- 
papers of both nations frequently fanned the flames of 
national hatred through the publication of articles abound- 
ing in taunts, insults, and recriminations. The chauvinists 
in France insisted that Prussia must be humiliated and they 
joined the Republicans, clericals, and protectionists in criti- 
cizing the Emperor, who began to consider the possibility of 
a war with Prussia as a means of reestablishing his popu- 
larity. Although the war party under the leadership of the 
Duke de Gramont was constantly preaching war, it did 
nothing to prepare the country for it. In 1868 the Emperor 
urged that the French army be reorganized on the Prussian 
model, but Parliament refused to enact the necessary legis- 

1 See p. 181. 



164 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

lation. He was loath to enter into a contest with the latter, 
whose power he was now augmenting, lest it should add to 
his unpopularity. What he cared most about was not the 
safety of his country, but the safety of his throne. 

The story of the events leading up to the Franco-Prus- 
sian War and of the war itself is described elsewhere. 1 . 
Mob pro- Sedan sounded the doom of the Second Empire, 
France a whose end was as inglorious as its beginning, 
republic On September 4, 1870, a mob broke into the 
Parliament building shouting, "Down with the Empire!" 
"Long live the Republic!" The members were dispersed, 
and the mob, led by Gambetta, Jules Ferry, and Jules 
Favre, went to the Hotel de Ville where they proclaimed a 
republic. Empress Eugenie fled. The Emperor, on being 
released by the Germans, sought refuge in England, where 
he died in 1873. 

A Government of National Defense was hastily organized 
with General Trochu at its head, but with Gambetta as its 
The new re- leading spirit. It resolved "not to yield an inch 

der a Gam- n " °f our s0 ^' not a stone of our fortresses," and 
betta proceeded to organize a levee en masse, or armed 

uprising, as in the great days of '93. Gambetta, who was 
the soul of this new phase of the war, had escaped in a bal- 
loon from besieged Paris and had established the Provi- 
sional Government at Bordeaux. Though holding the office 
of Minister of the Interior, he became virtually dictator of 
France. His extraordinary energy and daring resource- 
fulness aroused his fellow countrymen to a new resistance 
which astounded the Germans. But the capitulation of 
Metz rendered further resistance useless. 

In order to establish a responsible government with 
power to negotiate a treaty of peace, an armistice was signed 
Abolition of between the French and German forces. Elec- 
tee Empire tions were then held throughout France, and a 
National Assembly was chosen which convened at Bordeaux 
on February 12, 1871, and assumed full authority over 
France. The Government of National Defense was then 

1 See p. 184. 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 165 

dissolved. On March 1 the National Assembly almost 
unanimously voted the abolition of the Empire, which it 
declared was " responsible for the ruin, the invasion, and 
the dismemberment of France." 

Literature during the Empire 

By the middle of the" nineteenth century Romanticism 
was a spent force in French literature. Alone of the Roman- 
ticists, Victor Hugo, who bestrode the entire T7 . 

,., ,. ~ , , • Victor Hugo 

century like a literary Colossus, continued in 
unabated strength. He reached a poetic height unattained 
by any other French poet in his La Legende des Siecles 
{Legend of the Ages), a kind of lyrical history of man, in 
which he sings the paean of human progress in a series of 
epical and philosophical poems. 

Modern literary criticism can boast of no greater name 
than that of Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-69), who 
became the European arbiter of literary good Sainte- 
taste. Sainte-Beuve's conception of criticism Beuve 
was that its main function is to reveal "the natural history 
of the human intellect"; hence he had no set formula and 
no philosophic system. His method was that of "universal 
curiosity": to inquire into the antecedents, life, character, 
and temperament of the author and to show how these were 
reflected in his work. Above all, the critic was not to 
obtrude his own views on the reader; his function was "to 
be and to remain outside everything," and to exhibit the 
author as he would a picture or a statue, indicating both 
good and bad points ; the reader would then be able to pass 
judgment for himself more intelligently. Few critics were 
so well endowed as Sainte-Beuve, who possessed a wide 
and profound knowledge, not only of literature, but also of 
history, philosophy, art, and religion; he wrote, therefore, 
with great sympathy and understanding of many types of 
authors. He was, above all else, an intense admirer of the 
classic French style and, for that reason, he failed to ap- 
preciate fully so great a novelist as Balzac, who lacked it. 
Sainte-Beuve's greatest work, Histoire de Port-Royal, is a 



166 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

description of the Jansenist mystics of the seventeenth 
century and, in addition, a historical and philosophical 
study of the entire period. His most famous book of criti- 
cism is Causerias du lundi {Monday Chats) which consists of 
short but pregnant estimates of writers and other famous 
persons. 

Quite the opposite of Sainte-Beuve in ideals and methods 
was Hippolyte Taine (1828-93), the philosophic critic and 

. historian. The latter was an excellent example 

of the dogmatic thinker who has a passion for 
classifying all human phenomena into formulas and sys- 
tems. In Taine's opinion, three factors, race, heredity, and 
environment, determine all human development; the indi- 
vidual is merely the product of these forces which fashion 
his ideals and character. It is important to study, therefore, 
not this great man or that, but the social, political, and 
physical conditions which produced him. He applied this 
formula even to literature and to art. Taine's most impor- 
tant work is a series of histories entitled Origines de la 
France contemporaine, a highly original philosophic study 
of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. It is, how- 
ever, defective in scholarship and colored by partisanship, 
as he was strongly opposed to the ideas and methods of 
the Jacobins. 

By far the most perfect type of French savant was Ernest 

Renan (1823-92), whose great learning was combined with 

a literary style of the highest order. Although 

Renan \ J ° ° 

educated for the priesthood, he became the mas- 
ter skeptic of the age, and as such he exercised a profound 
influence on his contemporaries. The one unpardonable sin, 
according to Renanism, which became a cult among the 
intellectual elite of France, is dogmatism ; the greatest virtue 
is a refined sympathy for all ideas, even for those which you 
believe false, so long as they are of value to mankind; the 
true saint is the skeptic who gives up the good of this world 
without expecting anything in return. Renan was de- 
nounced by his opponents as a dilettante, a man who deli- 
ciously fingered great ideas for sensuous enjoyment and 



THE SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 167 

whose interest in art was greater than his interest in any- 
thing else. His exquisite style, elegant, suave, and fluid, 
and his romantic imagination gave fascination to his 
scholarly work, which was mainly in the field of religious 
history. Renan's most important book, Histoire du peuple 
d 1 Israel, is an attempt to rationalize the Old Testament 
and to explain its origin by the environment and race 
characteristics of the ancient Jews. His Vie de Jesus caused 
a sensation in Europe, and he was denounced by his op- 
ponents as a blasphemer, because he pictured Christ as a 
lovable human being and not as a divinity. 

In fiction a new school, Realism, displaced Romanticism. 
Unlike the latter, Realism found its themes and scenes 

in the present and not in the Middle Ages; it _, ,. 

• 1 1 iii-i Realism 

dealt with the actual and the probable in hu- 
man life, and avoided what smacked of the fantastic and 
of the extravagant. According to the Realists the writer 
must be objective, merely a medium through which nature 
and society find expression; he must efface his own person- 
ality completely from his work in order to reproduce life 
truthfully. "An artist ought no more appear in his work, 
than God does in nature," was the dictum of the greatest 
master of the school, Gustave Flaubert. 

By far the best example of a Realistic novel is Flaubert's 
Madame Bovary, which is considered by many competent 
critics to be the greatest novel in French lit- _ , 

t 11 1 • r Flaubert 

erature. It tells the tragic story of a simple 
woman, the unhappy wife of a country surgeon, whose 
quest of true love leads her to degradation and finally to 
suicide. The evolution of the character of the heroine, 
Emma Bovary, as she falls lower and lower in the moral 
scale, is described with such penetrating insight into human 
weakness and such cold aloofness that he makes the tragic 
end seem the natural outcome of the commonplace be- 
ginning. Flaubert was an artist, first, last, and all the time. 
He hated the vulgar and the mediocre, "the bourgeois," 
and loved "art for art's sake." His is the perfect French 
style; every sentence which he wrote was polished with the 



168 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

greatest care. To this "patient gold-beater of words and 
phrases " the correct expression was an eternal search, and 
he never rested till he found it. 

The most important dramatist of the Second Empire 
was Alexandre Dumas fils (1824-95), the son of the famous 
^ „ novelist. He was the originator of the kind of 

Dumas fils . . 

drama called the problem play, in which the 
moral difficulties arising out of the marriage tie are the main 
theme. Dumas's plays, the most famous of which is La 
Dame aux Camelias (Camille), frequently deal with a type 
of woman who lives in what he called the demi-monde, or 
the outskirts of respectable society. He constantly de- 
nounces the system of laws and customs which sacrifices the 
welfare of children to the vices of parents. ■ 



CHAPTER IX 

THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 
Reaction in Prussia 

If democracy gained little as a result of the Revolution 
of 1848, nationalism gained still less. The latter was badly 
discredited by the Frankfort Assembly with its Nationalism 
unpractical members, its long-winded discus- dlscredlted 
sions, and its contemptible exit. The common feeling in 
Germany now was that union could not be achieved by 
means of a constitutional assembly, or, for that matter, 
by any other means. Nationalism, having been discredited 
by democracy, was doubly odious to the triumphant auto- 
crats of Prussia and Austria. 

The King of Prussia soon turned his undivided attention 
to devitalizing the meager constitution which he had 
granted. What was inconvenient to the Govern- Suppression 
ment became a dead letter or was " interpreted " of llberallsm 
to suit its desires. Freedom of speech was granted only to 
those who favored the King; it was denied to those who 
opposed him. Liberal meetings were dissolved and Liberal 
newspapers suppressed on the slightest pretext. The meth- 
ods employed by Napoleon III to circumvent constitutional 
guarantees were much admired and copied by the reaction- 
aries of Prussia. The publication of newspapers was allowed, 
but their sale forbidden. Editors had to deposit large sums of 
money as a guarantee of "good behavior"; criticism of the 
Government was followed by the confiscation of this money 
and frequently by a prison sentence for the editor. This 
threat, always present, had a deterrent effect upon the free- 
dom of the press. During elections the Government used 
intimidation, patronage, and bribery to have candidates re- 
turned who were favorable to its policies. Even in private 
life did the liberals feel the heavy hand of reaction. Let- 
ters were opened and read by the postal authorities, and 



170 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

spies were everywhere. Liberals found it very difficult to be 
appointed as teachers in the schools and universities, and 
the public service was absolutely barred to them. Physi- 
cians and lawyers opposed to the Government were hin- 
dered in their practice by vexatious regulations and official 
boycotting. 

Prussia was now a semi-autocratic, semi-parliamentary 
state. The king was still sovereign with full control of the 
Prussia a Government; there was also a parliament, the 
semi-auto- Landtag, but its powers were narrowly limited. 
It had the right to pass laws which the king 
might veto, to make suggestions which he might ignore, 
and to vote censures which he might flout. It is true that 
all new taxes had to have the consent of the Landtag, but if 
no tax was voted, it might be "interpreted" by the king 
to mean that the old taxes continued. 

The Patriotic Historians 

In the great movement for unification, the writings of 
historians played a prominent part. Ink as well as "blood 

The Prussian an( ^ * ron " was *-° ^ e a factor in the making of 
historical United Germany. During the middle of the 
nineteenth century there arose a Prussian school 
of historians whose main purpose was to teach the German 
people that it was Prussia's historic mission to unite the 
Fatherland, primarily because she had been the leader in 
the Liberation Movement against Napoleon, which was re- 
garded by them as the true beginning of modern Germany. 
These historians strongly believed in a doctrine which they 
called "historic necessity," by which they meant that the 
evolution of nations compels them to adopt a certain course 
of action irrespective of kings, parliaments, laws, or morals. 
War, then, may become, to use the language of the Prus- 
sian General Clausewitz, the "continuation of politics only 
with other means." In the hands of the Prussian historians, 
who combined great learning with fervent patriotism, his- 
tory became a form of political propaganda, and the his- 
torian, a learned pamphleteer of the most partisan type. 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY i 7 i 

These men were popular professors in the various German 
universities, where they were able to influence deeply the 
minds of the rising generation. 

Frederick Dahlman, who lived in the early part of the 
nineteenth century, was a forerunner of this school. He was 
better known as a lecturer than as a writer, and The Prus _ 
many were inspired by his teaching, which was s j an histo- 
only mildly Prussian, for he remained a liberal 
to the end of his life. Ludwig Hausser gained prominence 
as a teacher, politician, and historian. His History of Ger- 
many from the Death of Frederick the Great to the German 
Confederation is a psean to the Prussian soldiers and states- 
men of the Liberation era. Gustav Droysen may be consid- 
ered to be the real founder of the Prussian School. The 
thesis of his History of Prussian Policy, on which he spent 
thirty years of labor, was that German unity was the lode- 
star of Prussian policy throughout the centuries, and that 
the Hohenzollerns alone had always been unswervingly 
faithful to German interests ; therefore it was to them that 
the people must look for a united Fatherland. In the 
hands of Heinrich von Sybel, history becomes a powerful 
weapon with which to attack opposing views and ideals. 
His History of the French Revolution is a great work which 
brings out for the first time the international character of 
that movement and its deeper implications ; but the book is 
badly marred by prejudice against the French, whose ideals 
and heroes he constantly belittles. Sybel's Foundations of 
the German Empire is a learned but bitterly partisan his- 
tory, as it is disfigured by hatred of Austria and France. 

By far the most famous of the Prussian School is Heinrich 
von Treitschke (1834-96), whose influence in Germany has 
been so great that he has been called the "na- 
tional historian." Nature had intended him to 
be a poet, but patriotism made him a historian. Almost 
all his life he spent as professor of history in various Ger- 
man universities, where his lectures attracted wide at- 
tention because of their eloquence, learning, and intense 
patriotism. "We have no German Fatherland; the Hohen- 



172 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

zollerns alone can give us one," was Treitschke's constant 
refrain before 1870. Great crowds were thrilled by this pa- 
triotic professor, whose lectures on history were in the na- 
ture of passionate declamations. The Germans, according to 
him, were the best of all peoples, and the Prussians, the best 
of all Germans; Prussia had performed every great deed in 
German history since the Treaty of Westphalia; she alone 
had realized the true ideal of national greatness, for the 
nation was an army, and the army, a nation. Treitschke's 
ideal state was one in which parliament played a subordi- 
nate role in the government; the latter should have supreme 
control over all its agencies, and should devote itself mainly 
to the task of training virile citizens. England was the 
special object of this historian's wrath. He would bitterly 
denounce and mock the English as vulgar utilitarians and 
hypocrites, as a decadent race holding a position in the 
world which by right belonged to the idealistic, virile Ger- 
mans. Besides seventeen volumes of essays on politics and 
kindred subjects, Treitschke wrote a History of Germany 
which is a brilliantly written eulogy of the German people, 
especially of Prussia. 

Bismarck 

Toward the end of his life, Frederick William IV, King 
of Prussia, became insane. In 1858 his brother, William, was 
appointed Regent to represent the King in the 
Government; and, on the death of the latter in 
1 861, the Regent, at the advanced age of sixty-four, as- 
cended the throne as William I. 

The new monarch was not a brilliant orator like his 
brother; he was a man of few words, slow, conscientious, 
industrious, and a Prussian soldier to the core. Although 
not especially gifted intellectually, he had the rare virtue 
of recognizing the abilities of those around him and of trust- 
ing them absolutely. He was sincerely convinced that the 
best possible kind of a government was a benevolent des- 
potism, and throughout his reign he consistently adhered 
to this ideal. William chose Albrecht von Roon, an able 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 173 

military organizer, as Minister of War, and Helmuth von 
Moltke, who was later to achieve renown as a military 
genius of the highest order, as chief of the army. 

The Government had resolved on a scheme of army re- 
form which was to have momentous consequences for Prus- 
sia, Germany, and the entire world. During the i na d e quacy 

Liberation Movement the principle of universal of the mili- 

• 1 1 1 1 1 -l l. tar y i aw 

military service had been adopted, but it was not 

generally applied. Many were permitted to enter the ac- 
tive service for a short period only, and many others were 
excused altogether from performing this duty; so that in 
time of peace the Prussian army was about 130,000, and 
its maximum war strength only 215,000. 

The King determined to change the law so as to compel 
all citizens to serve their full time, which would bring the 
army to a peace footing of 190,000 and to a war The new 
footing of 450,000. This proposal embodied a army bl11 
new idea, that of a "nation in arms"; whereas the old idea 
of an army was that of a special military force organized to 
defend the country. What could be the object of the Gov- 
ernment in desiring so large an army? "To stifle democ- 
racy," said the Liberals; and they determined to oppose the 
plans of the army reformers with might and main. 

As a result of a misunderstanding, the Landtag had pro- 
visionally voted money for the enlarged army, and new 
regiments had been formed. A new Landtag, p ar ii amen t 
elected in 1862, contained two hundred and fifty- defeats the 

. r^ • army bill 

three Liberals and only sixteen Conservatives. 
The army budget presented to this Landtag was overwhelm- 
ingly defeated, which meant that the new regiments were 
to be disbanded and the officers dismissed. Bitter feeling 
now existed between King and Parliament. The failure of the 
latter to vote the army appropriations appeared to William 
as an act of insubordination. If he was not to be supreme 
in military matters, he was no longer willing to be king, and 
he actually wrote out and signed his abdication. The King 
refused to violate his oath of office by abolishing the Land- 
tag, as he was advised to do by his ardent supporters; nor 



174 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

would he abandon his plan of strengthening Prussia's army, 
for the humiliation at Olmutz had convinced him that only 
through force could Prussia wrest from Austria the leader- 
ship of the German people. 

At this juncture "the man of the hour" arrived on the 

scene in the person of Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, 

who was appointed Prime Minister of Prussia 

Bismarck 

on September 23, 1862. Henceforth, for a gen- 
eration, the history of Germany and of Europe is largely the 
biography of this extraordinary man. Bismarck came of a 
noble family that had dwelt for centuries in the Mark of 
Brandenburg, where he was born in 181 5 on the family 
estate of Schonhausen. Brought up in the narrow but in- 
tensely German environment of a Prussian landowner, he 
was early imbued with all the aristocratic feelings of his 
class. He was sent to the University of Gottingen, where 
he spent a year and where he acquired the reputation of 
being a roystering student, more devoted to beer-drinking 
and dueling than to the law which he was supposed to be 
studying. Yet he managed to do a great deal of reading in 
history, literature, and philosophy, as his knowledge in 
these fields later surprised his contemporaries. For a time 
he occupied a position in the Prussian administrative serv- 
ice; but the plodding atmosphere of the bureaucracy ill 
suited his lively and boisterous temperament and he soon 
returned to his estate. Bismarck greatly enjoyed the life 
of a country gentleman, and he was very popular among 
his neighbors in spite of the wild pranks which he often 
played upon them. He was also at home in fashionable 
Berlin society, where his wit and good nature won him 
many friends. Always very emotional, he came under the 
influence of religion, which made him think seriously of 
life and of life's problems. His belief in absolute monarchy 
as the only legitimate and rational form of government was 
strengthened by the conception of divine right formulated 
under religious influences. 

Bismarck's entrance into political life was as a member 
of the United Diet, to which he was chosen in 1847. There 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 175 

he became somewhat notorious through his bitter opposi- 
tion to parliamentary government, which he Opposes 
contemptuously denounced as " government by democrac y 
phrases," leading inevitably to chaos, corruption, and in- 
competency. A constitution, "a sheet of paper," should 
not be permitted to intervene between the royal will and 
state action. Liberals were unpractical people who mis- 
took doctrines for realities, and whose schemes would surely 
bring the country to ruin. Parliamentary government, he 
declared, was all right for Englishmen, who were practiced 
in the art, but would never suit Prussians, who had no 
aptitude for such methods. 

Bismarck was a typical Teuton in appearance. He was a 
powerfully built man over six feet tall, with fair hair, blue 
eyes, and a rough, jovial face. He possessed but characteris- 
few of the natural gifts of an orator, as his voice tics of Bis- 
was somewhat shrill and his gestures awkward. 
But this blond giant had a sharp tongue and cool insolence 
which often infuriated his opponents. Once, while he was 
speaking, the House broke into an uproar at his denuncia- 
tion of democratic principles; but Bismarck coolly turned 
his back to the assembly and began reading a newspaper, 
and the tumult quickly subsided. During the Revolution 
of 1848 he raised a company of peasants on his estate with 
the object of marching on Berlin to rescue the King from 
the mob. More royalist than the King, he was one of a 
minority of two in the Diet who voted against a resolution 
of thanks to the King for granting a constitution. 

To Bismarck, German nationalism was as abhorrent as 
democracy. He poured withering scorn on the efforts of 
the Frankfort Assembly to unite Germany. His oppos j_ 
At that time he greatly admired Austria as the tion to Ger- 

. , r . . , 1 w • 1 • man unity 

extinguisher of revolution and as the inheritor 
of ancient German might which has so often gloriously 
wielded the German sword." He even rejoiced at the hu- 
miliation of Prussia at Olmiitz because she had risked a war 
for the sake of Germany. For a state to fight for anything 
which did not concern its own interest was to Bismarck 



176 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

"romanticism" and deserving of humiliation. "Prussians 
we are and Prussians we shall remain," was then his verdict. 
During the reaction which followed the Revolution of 
1848, Bismarck was continually advising the authorities to 
Appointed deal harshly with the revolutionists; and he f re- 
delegate to quently made rabid speeches against democracy, 

the Diet of M J ^ & V 

the Confed- so that he came to be regarded by the Liberals 
eration as " a political rowdy." Greatly to their chagrin 

the King appointed him, in 1851, to the important position 
of Prussian delegate to the Diet of the German Confedera- 
tion at Frankfort. 

It was in the Diet that Bismarck first got a close view 
and thorough understanding of the problems which con- 
His conver- fronted Germany. There he saw the deep-seated 
man nation- hatred °f Austria for Prussia and the continuous 
alism efforts of the former to block the union of the 

German people, to which he was now becoming a convert. 
He also clearly foresaw the inevitable conflict between 
these two powerful states for leadership in Germany. Lively 
altercations continually took place between the cool and 
insolent Bismarck and the Austrian envoys, whose "cau- 
tious dishonesty" exasperated him and whose domineer- 
ing control of the Diet he resented. It was as a result of his 
experiences in this body that Bismarck became a convert 
to the cause of German nationalism; he now ceased to be 
merely a Prussian and became a German. 

In 1857 the King appointed him Ambassador to Russia, 
where he became exceedingly popular on account of his 
Ambassador great desire to establish good relations between 
and to Sia Prussia and Russia. Bismarck's mission to the 
France latter country is of prime importance in the dip- 

lomatic history of Europe. He keenly realized the value of 
Russian friendship to Prussia, and later to Germany, as an 
offset to France; an alliance or, at least, a friendly under- 
standing with Russia became the corner-stone of his foreign 
policies to the end of his political career. In 1862 he became 
Ambassador to France, where he met Napoleon III, whose 
shallow character and limited abilities he quickly divined. 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 177 

"A great unrecognized incapacity," was his judgment of 
Napoleon. The Prussian's exuberant frankness and his 
blunt discussion of great questions convinced the French 
Emperor that he was "not a person to be taken seriously." 
As a result of these experiences Bismarck changed greatly. 
He was now no longer the narrow Prussian Junker, but a 
man of the world; his mental horizon had wid- Bismarck' 
ened and his character had deepened. He de- character 

, , j- - 1 1 • • 1 an d methods 

veloped an extraordinary keenness in his judg- 
ment of men and an unerring insight into the real nature of 
the politics of Europe. When it was a question of advancing 
the interests of his country and king, Bismarck was utterly 
unscrupulous, using cunning, deceit,- or brute force as best 
suited the occasion at hand. What was most deceptive in 
him was a kind of adroit frankness that completely con- 
founded the master diplomats of the day. As lying and de- 
ception were the very soul of diplomacy, Bismarck sometimes 
told the truth in order better to deceive his opponents. 
Combined with his recently acquired diplomatic abilities 
were his old daring, boldness, and iron will. The moment 
Bismarck appeared on the European scene, he was master, 
and he remained so till the day of his retirement. 

Bismarck's appointment as Prime Minister aroused the 
greatest indignation in Prussia, as it was an open challenge 
to public opinion which he had so often de- Determined 
risively flouted. He advised the King to tear to defy Par- 
up his letter of abdication and to govern in de- 
fiance of the Landtag. It was the Prime Minister's iron 
determination to collect taxes and spend them on the army 
without the consent of the people's representatives; in 
short, to violate the constitution without repealing it or 
abolishing Parliament. "As to what is the law," he de- 
clared, " when no budget is voted, many theories are ad- 
vanced, the justification of which I will not consider here. 
The necessity for the State to exist is enough for me; 
necessity alone is authoritative." 

It was a bold and daring move, as widespread indignation 
was aroused by his open violation of the constitution, and 



178 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

it might have led to his impeachment and execution. Bis- 
Widespread marc k was often threatened with the fate of the 
indignation Earl of Strafford, who had performed a similar 
service for his monarch , Charles I . Petitions from 
municipal councils and other public bodies began to pour 
in asking the King to remove " the rude and insolent Min- 
ister." Demonstrations against the despotic action of the 
Government took place throughout the country. Even 
at the Court, Bismarck had to face the bitter opposition 
of the Queen, the Crown Prince, and the English wife of 
the latter, all of whom felt that he was endangering the 
throne by inviting a revolution. Sometimes the King him- 
self wavered, but Bismarck heartened him with the words, 
"Death on the scaffold under certain circumstances is as 
honorable as death on the field of battle." 

For four years the Landtag was annually summoned to 
vote the budget, but each time it refused to do so. "If 
~ you do not vote the money we shall take it where 

Governs J . J . , 

without we can get it," was Bismarck's defiant rejoin- 

ar lament ^^ faxes were thereupon levied, collected, and 
spent by the Government without its presenting a budget 
or an accounting. A system of terrorism was instituted 
against the Liberals; their meetings were forbidden and their 
papers gagged by the censors. The worst days of the Carls- 
bad Decrees had now returned. 

Bismarck's defense was that Parliament stood in the 
way of the country's destiny. "Prussia's kingship has not 
Bismarck's yet fulfilled its mission," he boldly declared. " It is 
defense no -^ y e j- r }p e eno ugh to form a purely ornamental 

trimming for your constitutional structure, not yet ready 
to be inserted as a dead piece of machinery in the mechanism 
of parliamentary rule." By this time Bismarck clearly 
had in view the unification of Germany and how it was to 
be accomplished, and he determined, cost what it might, 
to carry through the army reform. On a memorable oc- 
casion he gave utterance to a sentiment which rang through- 
out the world. "Germany," he declared, "does not look to 
Prussia's liberalism, but to her power. . . . The great ques- 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 179 

tions of the day are not to be decided by speeches and ma- 
jority resolutions — therein lay the weakness of 1848 and 
1849 — but by blood and iron!" Bismarck's very boldness 
carried the day, as all opposition to him proved to be vain. 
A military machine fashioned by the masterly hands of 
Moltke and Roon soon came into existence, which was to 
give a great account of itself on the battlefields of Europe. 

Bismarck's course was arbitrary, brutal, reactionary, and 
illegal. But in his defense it must be said that, if he used 
ignoble means, he had in view a noble, patriotic Good and 
end, the unification of Germany, for which he ^Bismarck's 
was willing at any moment to lay down his life, action 
It has, therefore, been the judgment of historians that, in 
the quarrel between the Landtag and Bismarck, history 
has justified the latter. But in flouting the Constitution he 
set an evil example to the ruling classes of Prussia who now 
had contempt as well as abhorrence for democratic govern- 
ment. 

The Seven Weeks' War 

The weapon was now forged with which to strike those 
who stood in the way of German unity. Three wars were to 
be fought before this great task was accomplished: with 
Denmark in 1864; with Austria in 1866; and with France 
in 1870. 

The Danish war grew out of the question of disposing of 
the two duchies, Schleswig-Holstein. The population of 
the former was partly Danish and partly Ger- The s c hi es _ 
man, that of the latter, entirely German; but wig-Holstein 
both had been united to Denmark by a per- 
sonal union through the king. In 1863 the Danish King, 
Frederick VII, died, and his successor, Christian IX, 
wished to incorporate the two duchies with the rest of his 
dominions. To this project great objection was raised by 
the inhabitants of the duchies and by the people and gov- 
ernments of Germany. Had the Danish King a right to do 
so, or had he not? The question bristled with so many com- 
plications that Lord Palmerston once declared that only 



180 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

two men besides himself had ever understood it; one was 
dead and the second was crazy and he had forgotten it. 
Bismarck became intensely interested in the Schleswig- 
Holstein controversy, because he saw in it, on the one 
hand, a possibility of annexing the entire region with its 
fine harbor at Kiel, and, on the other, an excellent oppor- 
tunity for getting into a war with Austria. "Our rela- 
tions with Austria," he had once declared, "must be better 
or worse. We desire the first, but we must prepare for the 
second." He proposed that Austria join Prussia in a war 
on Denmark, with the object of securing the duchies and 
dividing the spoils. To this Austria gladly assented. 

These two great powers declared war against little Den- 
mark in 1864. A line of Danish fortresses, which it was 
War on Den- thought could hold an army at bay for two 
mark years, was carried in five days by an army of 

sixty thousand Prussians and Austrians. Denmark was 
compelled to sign a treaty renouncing all rights to Schleswig- 
Holstein and also to the Duchy of Lauenburg, a little neigh- 
bor of the latter. The Danish difficulty was now over, but 
another one arose about the division of the spoils. Accord- 
ing to the Treaty of Gastein, signed on August 14, 1865, 
Holstein was to be administered by Austria and Schleswig 
by Prussia. Lauenburg was sold outright to the latter by 
Austria. Prussia obtained also the right to construct a 
canal which would join the North Sea, at Kiel, with the 
Baltic. 

This treaty, however, was by no means the final settle- 
ment of the perplexing Schleswig-Holstein question. A 
A new claim- claimant for both duchies appeared in the per- 
ant to the son of Prince Frederick of Augustenburg, who 
wished to form them into a new German state 
with himself as ruler. This appealed greatly to German 
popular sentiment ; moreover, Austria championed his cause 
and encouraged a propaganda in his favor. But Bismarck 
was totally averse to this plan, for, by increasing the num- 
ber of German states, of which there were already too many, 
and by giving another supporter to Austria, it would make 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 181 

it more difficult for him to unite Germany. He therefore 
determined to oppose the Prince of Augustenburg to the 
extent of war with Austria. 

If Bismarck was bold, he was also prudent. In the 
diplomatic moves that now began, he displayed a mas- 
terly if unscrupulous handling of the situation, Bismarck 
which ended in the total discomfiture of Aus- t r f£l h u-~ 
tria. His main object was to isolate Prussia's mihation 
rival. With this end in view he entered into a treaty of 
alliance with the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, promising 
her Venetia for assistance to Prussia in a war against 
Austria. Napoleon III was lulled into inactivity by 
vague promises of allowing France to annex Belgium. On 
Russian friendship Bismarck could securely count, for the 
reason that, in 1863, he had signed a convention with the 
Tsar promising Prussia's help in suppressing the Polish 
uprising. 1 This treaty with Russia was one of the causes 
of his great unpopularity at home, as the Polish patriots 
had the sympathy of the German people in their brave 
stand against Russian tyranny. 

Bismarck then began leading Austria on, now feigning 
a willingness to yield, now urging arbitration, now goading 
her to fury, till all was prepared for a blow. The Schles- 
First, careful planning, then audacious execu- qul" s tion be" 
tion, was the Bismarckian method. When every- fore the Diet 
thing was ready he suddenly proposed a new plan for re- 
organizing the German Confederation, which included a 
provision for universal suffrage in the elections to the Diet. 
Great was the astonishment at the sudden conversion to 
democracy of this "Parliament- tamer," and many doubted 
his sincerity. His object was undoubtedly to win the Ger- 
man Liberals to the side of Prussia in the coming conflict. 
Austria, confident of the support of the Confederation, 
brought the Schleswig-Holstein matter before the Diet, 
with the object of once more humiliating Prussia, as at 
Olmiitz. Prussia declared that this action of Austria was in 
violation of the Treaty of Gastein, and that it would refuse 

1 See p. 514. 



182 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to be bound by any action of the Diet in the matter. On 
June 14, 1866, the Diet, under the influence of Austria, 
ordered the mobilization of the federal troops against Prus- 
sia; and in so doing it decreed its own death. Prussia im- 
mediately declared the Treaty of Gastein null and void 
and the German Confederation dissolved. 

Civil war followed, most of the states siding with Austria 
and only a few in the North supporting Prussia. The care- 
The Seven ful and minute preparations that the latter had 
Weeks' War mac j e f or the conflict now stood her in good 
stead. The Prussian soldiers were armed with the new 
" needle gun," which could fire three shots to one by the old- 
fashioned "muzzle loaders" used by the Austrians. At the 
head of the Prussian armies was " the battle thinker," Gen- 
eral von Moltke, the first of the modern race of scientific 
warriors. There was nothing dashing or heroic about the 
manner or speech of this famous commander; he was a 
calm, rather dry person, with a wonderful capacity for 
scientifically planning the road to victory. Moltke was the 
first to make military use on a large scale of the modern 
means of communication, the railway and the telegraph. 
The Austrians, on the contrary, were disorganized, poorly 
led, and badly armed. 

The war which followed is one of the shortest on record, as 
it lasted only seven weeks. Prussian armies were dispatched 
_ , with incredible rapidity against Austria and her 

Sadowa r L._ 

supporters. Hanover, Hesse, Saxony, and other 
states adhering to Austria were quickly overrun and con- 
quered. Several Prussian armies invaded Bohemia, where 
they encountered a large Austrian force. On July 3, 1866, 
was fought the famous Battle of Koniggratz, or Sadowa, 
in which two hundred thousand men were engaged on each 
side. The issue, at first, was doubtful, but the arrival of 
reinforcements decided the day for the Prussians; what 
promised to be a defeat was turned into a brilliant victory, 
as the Austrians were overwhelmingly routed. The South 
German states, which had supported Austria in the conflict, 
were conquered and forced to sue for peace. 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 183 

At last the "humiliation of Olmiitz" was avenged. It 
was the intention of King William to make Austria pay 
dearly for her arrogance in the past by marching Bismarck 
into Vienna and compelling her to pay a heavy encyliward 
indemnity and to cede part of her territory to Austria 
Prussia. But it was no part of Bismarck's plan so to humili- 
ate Austria as to drive her into permanent opposition to 
Prussia. "The question at issue is now decided; what re- 
mains is to regain the old friendship of Austria," he had de- 
clared on the battlefield of Sadowa. Almost with prophetic 
eyes he saw that the future Germany had nothing to gain 
from a weakened Austria, which might break up into Slavic 
and Hungarian nationalities permanently hostile to every- 
thing German. In Bismarck's mind the idea had already* 
come of a future alliance between Germany and Austria, 
and he was willing to make peace at this time on Austria's 
terms in order to mollify her wounded pride. 

A bitter controversy arose between the military party 
headed by the King on one side and Bismarck on the other 
over the question of the treatment of Austria. The Treaty 
Bismarck threatened to resign; and he went of Pra s ue 
so far as to contemplate suicide, so keenly did he feel the 
situation. Finally, the King yielded and consented "to 
bite the sour apple," as he called it, of a moderate peace. 
On August 23, 1866, the Treaty of Prague was signed by 
Prussia and Austria, the terms of which were (1) that the 
German Confederation should be dissolved and a new union 
formed of which Austria was not to be a member; (2) that 
Schleswig-Holstein should be incorporated with Prussia; 
and (3) that Venetia should be annexed to Italy. Austria 
was not forced to pay an indemnity or to cede any of her 
territory. The moderation shown by Prussia on this occa- 
sion was to have important consequences in the future, 
namely, in 1870 and again in 1914. 

The results of the Seven Weeks' War amply justified the 
years of toil and preparation. By putting an end to the 
century-old domination of Germany by the Hapsburgs, it 
cleared the way of the chief obstruction to the union of the 



184 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

German people. Hanover, Nassau, Hesse-Cassel, and the 
The North free city of Frankfort were annexed to Prussia 
Confedera- as a punishment for taking Austria's side in the 
tion war. The Frankfort Diet was abolished, and a 

new union was formed, the North German Confederation, 
consisting of the twenty- two states north of the River Main. 
The four South German states, Bavaria, Wiirttemberg, 
Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, formed themselves into the 
South German Confederation under the protection of Na- 
poleon III, who had now become alarmed at what was hap- 
pening beyond the Rhine. The constitution of the North 
German Confederation was written for the most part by 
Bismarck, and it was accepted by the princes of the various 
states ; later, it was ratified by a convention chosen for this 
purpose by universal suffrage. This constitution is identical 
with the one adopted by the German Empire in 1871; its 
provisions will, therefore, be discussed in another chapter. 1 
Prussia was now at the head of a powerful federal state 
numbering thirty millions of people that could put an army 
of a million men in the field. Bismarck, once the most un- 
popular, now found himself the most popular man in Ger- 
many. At last was seen the true purpose of the great army 
which he provided in defiance of the Constitution. The tri- 
umphant Prime Minister was eager, nevertheless, to have 
his acts in defiance of the Constitution legalized. He 
therefore requested the Landtag to pass an act legalizing 
his recent actions in governing* without a budget, which 
it did by an overwhelming majority. 

The Franco-Prussian War 

If the road to German unity was cleared of Austria, 
another obstruction, and a far more serious one, appeared 
Hostility of in the hostile attitude of France. To the latter 
German a divided Germany, and therefore a weak Ger- 
unity many, was a far more desirable neighbor than 

the united nation which was now emerging from the chaos 
of former days. Time and again had Germany served as 

1 See p. 277 ff. 




Empire of Austria 
Kingdom of Prussia 
The States belonging to the German Con- 
federation are within heavy lines. 
ABREVIATIONS: 
1= Brunswick V = Schmalkalde 

11= Hessen-Homburg VI= Schaumburg- 

III = Elect. Hesse Lippe 

IV = 01denburg VII = Speyer 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 185 

an outlet for the ambitions of France and as a convenient 
battleground for her wars. A powerful united nation on the 
other side of the Rhine might, indeed, prove a thorn in 
the side of France and eventually lessen the prestige of la 
grande nation. It was soon evident that Emperor Napo- 
leon III would do all in his power to hinder the comple- 
tion of German unity, even to the point of making war to 
prevent it. 

In the trial of strength between France and Prussia which 
was about to ensue, the advantage was really with the lat- 
ter, though appearances favored the former. Comparison 
Prussia had the best army in the world, the best w j t h p r ug_ 
general, Moltke, the best diplomat, Bismarck, sia 
and the better cause, nationality. France, on the contrary, 
was to be badly served by a poorly organized though valiant 
army, by incompetent generals, Bazaine and MacMahon, 
by a weak and vacillating statesman, Napoleon III, and, 
worst of all, by a bad cause, namely, insolent interference 
in the internal affairs of a neighboring people. When, in 
1870, the French tried to prevent their neighbors from 
becoming a nation, they were untrue to the very principle 
which they themselves had so passionately proclaimed dur- 
ing the French Revolution, and for which they had so often 
bravely and generously fought, namely, nationalism. And 
most dearly did they pay for it! In justice to the French 
people, it must be said that the war of 1870 was not of their 
making and that Napoleon entered into it in theliope that 
a victory would resuscitate his dying empire. 

Unfortunately, it had been the policy of the older na- 
tions to regard newcomers as intruders, and to try to pre- 
vent their entrance into the European family. The war of 
Had a wiser and more generous policy been fol- l8 7o unnec- 
lowed, the Franco- Prussian War, which humil- 
iated and mutilated a proud nation, France, and which 
compelled the German people to stand guard over their 
newly born Fatherland with drawn sword, would not have 
taken place. Perhaps the great World War of 1914 might 
also have been avoided! But the lessons of history have 



186 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

seldom been learned, even by statesmen, until it was too 
late for the world to profit by them. One generation re- 
peats the mistakes of another and calls it conservatism; 
or it advances through bloodshed and hate and calls it 
progress. Rarely has even enlightened self-interest guided 
the policies of the nations of the world. 

Bismarck had come to believe that a war with France was 
inevitable, that "it lay in the logic of history." He even 
deemed such a conflict desirable, for the effect of arousing 
the patriotism of all the Germans against a common enemy 
would be to strengthen the newly formed bonds of union. 
Particularism, that age-old German characteristic, would 
vanish on the battlefield when Prussians, Saxons, Hano- 
verians, Hessians, and Wurttembergers fought side by side 
for their common Fatherland. There would then be gen- 
erated a common heroic memory which would do more 
to unite Germany than constitutions and zollvereins. 

The problem was how to manage the situation so that 
France would appear in the light of aggressor. From 1866 
Bismarck's to l &7° a diplomatic web was craftily being spun 
masterful by that master-weaver of diplomacy, Bismarck, 
with the object of sheltering Prussia and en- 
tangling her enemies. Bismarck's finesse, his unscrupulous 
disregard for the means which he used, his daring boldness, 
seem at no other time to have been so effectively used as 
during these momentous years, because at no time was he 
confronted with so delicate a situation. He knew just the 
arguments that would persuade his opponents, and showed 
himself remarkably apt in subtly suggesting favorable 
terms, yet never committing himself definitely to anything. 
Bismarck was one of the first to make extensive use of the 
press for purposes of diplomatic intrigue. A number of 
journalists, both German and foreign, were in his secret 
pay: a special fund, popularly known as "the reptile fund," 
had been created for this purpose. "Inspired" articles, 
sometimes written in Bismarck's own office, would appear 
in prominent European newspapers attacking certain men, 
suggesting certain plans, or threatening certain acts. In 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 187 

this way he was able to hide his own plans and, at the same 
time, frequently to compel his opponents to reveal theirs. 

Bismarck's main object was a simple one, to complete the 
unification of Germany. But this, by bringing into exist- 
ence a great power, would, he knew, upset the isolation of 
balance of power in Europe; therefore, he had France 
to tread warily, lest he give offense by flouting the practices 
and prejudices of the other nations. To sting France to 
action at the right moment, and yet to make her appear as 
the disturber of the peace of Europe, was Bismarck's aim. 
He began the process of isolating France, so that all the na- 
tions would look on calmly while Prussia was delivering her 
master-stroke. Italy was still an ally; besides, in case of a 
war between Prussia and France, Italy would distract at- 
tention by attacking Rome. The friendship with Russia, 
which he had so carefully nurtured since the time when he 
was Ambassador to that country, could be counted upon. 
Austria, if not friendly, was at least not hostile as a conse- 
quence of the policy of mollification after Sadowa; besides, 
Austria's fear of Russia, whom she had offended during the 
Crimean War, would keep her from interfering. England, 
Bismarck well knew, would be actively interested in Con- 
tinental affairs only in case her interests should be directly 
affected by a violation of the neutrality of Belgium, and 
he determined to avoid doing this at all costs. The states 
of the South German Confederation, which were presum- 
ably under the influence of France, had signed a secret 
treaty with Prussia, promising to put their troops at her 
disposal in case of war . 

In the meantime, General von Moltke set himself the 
task of preparing the German armies for war with France. 
There began a systematic preparation for that Moltke's 
purpose which was almost uncanny in its per- P re P aredn ess 
fection. Every possible difficulty was foreseen and pro- 
vided for. France was carefully mapped and the Prussian 
officers came to know the topography of the land of their 
enemy far better than did the French themselves. Strategic 
railways were built for the purpose of transporting troops 



188 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

quickly to important points on the frontier. The equipment 
of the army was of the latest and best pattern, the com- 
missariat was perfectly arranged, and everything was pre- 
pared for the comfort and welfare of the soldiers, from the 
rifles on their shoulders to the handkerchiefs in their pock- 
ets. Preparedness for war had never before been so thorough 
and so comprehensive; all that was now necessary was to 
give the word of command, and the terrible military ma- 
chine would be immediately launched in all its complete- 
ness against the unwary enemy. 

The leading figures in the great drama of 1870 were all 
old men. King William was seventy-three years of age; 
German Moltke was seventy; Roon, sixty-seven; the 

leaders old youngest was Bismarck, and he was fifty-five. 
Yet age had neither impaired their mental pow- 
ers nor softened their iron will, and the new and mighty 
Germany that was soon to arise was largely of their making. 

In 1868 a revolution occurred in Spain and the Queen, 
Isabella II, was exiled. 1 The throne being vacant, a search 
The Hohen- f° r a new ruler was made ; and the choice at one 
zollern can- time fell upon Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern- 

didacy for * r , 

the Spanish Sigmanngen, a distant relative of the King of 
Prussia. Just why the Spaniards wanted a 
Hohenzollern was then not understood, but it is now known 
that the Prince's candidacy was encouraged, and possibly 
even suggested, by the paid emissaries of Bismarck in 
Spain. France regarded the candidacy of a Hohenzollern for 
the Spanish throne in an unfavorable light, fearing that a 
possible "family compact" might result to her disadvan- 
tage. The new French Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Duke 
de Gramont, openly declared that a Hohenzollern as King of 
Spain would be against "the interest and honor of France." 
Count Benedetti, the French Ambassador to Berlin, was 
instructed to beg of King William, who was then at a water- 
ing-place called Ems, that he command the Prince to refuse 
the Spanish offer. The King, unaware of Bismarck's part 
in the matter, and having no special desire to see his rela- 

1 See p. 463. 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 189 

tive King of Spain, readily granted the request, and the 
Hohenzollern candidacy was withdrawn. 

Bismarck was at first bitterly disappointed at this out- 
come; but, to his great satisfaction, the reckless attitude 
of the French chauvinists revived the question. The Ems 
Denunciatory articles against Prussia appeared dls P atch 
in the Parisian journals, and a war party was formed headed 
by the reckless and incompetent Duke de Gramont and the 
Empress Eugenie, herself a Spaniard. They prevailed upon 
the Emperor and his Prime Minister, Emile Ollivier, to 
make a new demand upon King William, namely, that he 
should not at any future time and under any circumstances 
permit a Hohenzollern to occupy the throne of Spain. Once 
more did Benedetti journey to Ems to present this new and 
unnecessary demand which had the character of an ultima- 
tum. Although he was astonished at the insolence of the 
French Government, King William received the French 
Ambassador courteously, but he refused the demand. He 
then sent a dispatch containing the refusal to Bismarck 
with instructions that he make whatever changes he might 
think necessary and then publish it. 

Bismarck was in Berlin at a private conference with 
Moltke and Roon when the message came. On being as- 
sured by his associates that all was in readiness Bismarck 
and that they were confident of victory, he pro- "edits" the 
ceeded to "edit" the dispatch with the object lspa 
of converting it into " a red flag for the Gallic bull." Bis- 
marck so changed the wording that it read as though there 
had been a heated interview between the King and Bene- 
detti, that the former had refused the French demand 
sharply, and that he had dismissed the French Ambas- 
sador without ceremony. "Now it has a different ring," 
said Moltke. " In its original form it sounded like a parley; 
now it is like a flourish of trumpets in answer to a chal- 
lenge." 

On July 14, 1870, the famous "Ems dispatch" was pub- 
lished. The effect was exactly what Bismarck had intended. 
Frenzied crowds paraded up and down the boulevards of 



i 9 o MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Paris demanding war with Prussia and shouting, " A Berlin!" 
France de- "A Berlin!" The Government was swept off 

a la a?nst Var * ts ^ eet ^ *h e exc i te d mobs. The Minister of 
Prussia War assured the Emperor that all was in readi- 

ness "down to the last button on the last gaiter of the last 
soldier." On July 19 the French Parliament declared war 
upon Prussia and entered the momentous conflict, as Prime 
Minister Ollivier said, "with a light heart." 

If the "Ems dispatch" roused the French, it also pro- 
foundly stirred the Germans. A wave of indignation swept 
Orderly mo- over a ^ Germany at what was believed to be 
bilization of the insolent conduct of the French Ambassador, 
and the South Germans enthusiastically joined 
their northern brethren in the common war against their 
hereditary foe. Men fell into their places promptly and were 
transported with amazing rapidity to the frontier. What 
the French Minister of War had said of the readiness of the 
French armies was, in reality, true only of the German, as 
about a million men were mobilized in Germany within two 
weeks without the slightest disorder. This period of mobili- 
zation, Moltke said, was the most tranquil of his life. 

On the other side of the Rhine all was disorder and con- 
fusion: soldiers could not find their officers; cannon were 
Chaos in the without ammunition ; horses were without har- 
French ar- ness; means of transport were lacking; the food 
supply was insufficient; officers were not pro- 
vided with the necessary maps. So badly disorganized was 
the French War Office that those called to the colors were 
frequently obliged to travel across the country in order to 
get their uniforms. Instead of everything being ready "to 
the last button," chaos reigned in the French armies. 

To the amazement and chagrin of France, she found her- 
self completely isolated, as all the other nations immediately 
Isolation of declared their neutrality. Popular opinion, too, 
France ^ e WO rld over, favored the Germans as de- 

fenders of their country against French aggression. To gain 
England's sympathy Bismarck published an unsigned treaty 
with Napoleon III showing how the latter was contemplating 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 



191 



the annexation of Belgium, the neutrality of which Prussia 
was scrupulously respecting. 

The two gateways to Germany were the strongly forti- 
fied French cities, Metz and Strassburg. Two French ar- 
mies, one of two hundred thousand men under pi an of 
Marshal Bazaine in Metz, and another of one cam P ai s n 
hundred thousand under Marshal MacMahon in Strass- 




burg, were preparing to invade Germany. The German 
plan of campaign was to defeat the French armies and to 
capture Paris, and it was felt that if both these objects 
were accomplished, organized resistance would be at an end. 
Three German armies, under the supreme command of 
General von Moltke, invaded France: one of sixty thousand 
men under General Steinmetz; the second, of one hundred 



192 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

and thirty- four thousand, under Prince Frederick Charles; 
and the third, of one hundred and thirty thousand, under 
the Crown Prince Frederick William. 

The first important battle was that of Worth, the re- 
sult being a defeat for the French which lost them lower 
German Alsace. A series of desperate engagements around 

successes ^he heights of Spichern resulted in another vic- 
tory for the Germans which gave them Eastern Lorraine. 
MacMahon was now in full retreat, and the Germans en- 
deavored to prevent Bazaine from coming to his aid, as it 
was their prime object to surround the latter at Metz, to- 
ward which three great German armies were concentrating. 
Another series of bloody battles, Borny, Mars-la-Tour, and 
Gravelotte, followed, in which the French fought bravely, 
but the Germans were completely victorious and finally suc- 
ceeded in surrounding Metz, thereby bottling up the French 
army under Bazaine. MacMahon, having received rein- 
forcements, attempted to come to the relief of Metz. But 
he was intercepted and forced to turn north to Sedan, where 
his army was surrounded. The battle of Sedan, which fol- 
lowed on September 2, 1870, was the greatest of the war. 
A French army of one hundred and twenty thousand men 
was completely routed; seventeen thousand were killed or 
wounded, and the rest taken prisoners. Among the cap- 
tives was the Emperor Napoleon himself. 

The defeat at Sedan was a stunning blow to the French 
people, who blamed the Emperor for all of their misfortunes. 
The second ^ ne E m pi re was abolished and a Government 
phase of the of National Defense was spontaneously organ- 
ized, which consisted of prominent Republicans 
headed by Leon Gambetta. This led to the second phase of 
the war. There were no more French armies in the field, 
and the Government of National Defense proclaimed a levee 
en masse, or general uprising against the enemy. What 
followed was a spirited and desperate but futile struggle on 
the part of the French masses against the German armies. 

In the meantime the Germans were putting an "iron 
girdle" around Paris by surrounding it with an army of two 



THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 193 

hundred thousand men. One of the most famous sieges 
in all history now began, in which the heroic siege of 
citizens, militia, and remnants of former armies Pans 
made an extraordinarily courageous defense of the city. 
When starvation was staring them in the face, they slaugh- 
tered for food the animals in the zoological gardens and even 
the cats, dogs, and rats. Members of the Government of 
National Defense, led by Gambetta, escaped from Paris in 
a balloon and established a new government at Bordeaux. 
Gambetta, by his extraordinary energy and eloquence, 
managed to arouse the provinces to a heroic resistance, but 
all in vain. 

Disaster followed disaster in that "annee terrible,''' as 
the French call the year 1870. On September 28, one of the 
"gates," Strassburg, surrendered to the Ger- Fall f 
mans with nineteen thousand soldiers. On Octo- Metz and 
ber 27 came the fall of the other "gate," Metz. trass urg 
Marshal Bazaine surrendered this city to the Germans with 
an army of one hundred and seventy-three thousand men 
and immense stores of war supplies. The fall of these two 
cities was greeted by an outburst of joy in Germany; 
henceforth these "gates" were to be in German hands and 
were to be entrances opening into France instead of into 
Germany. 

On January 28, 1871, after a heroic siege lasting one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven days, Paris at last capitulated. An 
armistice was signed in order to enable the Treaty of 
French to organize a government which would Frankfort 
have legal power to negotiate a treaty of peace. A National 
Assembly was elected which met at Bordeaux on February 
12, 1 87 1. It was overwhelmingly in favor of peace; and 
Adolphe Thiers was chosen Chief of the Executive Power, 
with authority to conclude peace with Germany. After 
preliminary agreements and much bargaining both parties 
agreed to the terms, which were later incorporated in the 
Treaty of Frankfort, signed on May 10, 1871. According to 
this treaty France was to cede to Germany Alsace and the 
part of Lorraine containing Metz; in addition, an indemnity 



194 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of one billion dollars was to be paid by France, who was 
also compelled to support a German army of occupation 
till the entire amount was paid. Never was a victory so 
complete as that of Germany, and never a defeat so hu- 
miliating as that of France. 

On January 1 8, 1 871, while the siege of Paris was still in 
progress, a historic ceremony took place in the great Hall 
Proclama- of Mirrors in the royal palace at Versailles, once 
Ge?m°an he the residence of French kings. King William, 
Empire surrounded by the princes, generals, and states- 

men of Germany, was offered the imperial crown by the 
King of Bavaria in the name of his fellow princes. He ac- 
cepted, and was proclaimed William I, German Emperor; 
and the new union, now including the southern states, was 
named the German Empire. At last united Germany was 
an accomplished fact. 



CHAPTER X 

UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 
Causes of Disunion 

Italy, proudly acclaimed the "eldest daughter of civi- 
lization" by her children, had to wait till the latter part 
of the nineteenth century before she became a Italy, a 
nation. For centuries she was divided into s t r r o„ f ^ 
small, weak states, and was consequently an nations 
easy prey for the strong nations of Europe who frequently 
invaded the peninsula seeking to satisfy their territorial 
ambitions. Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Austrians had each 
in turn either annexed portions of Italy or else had gov- 
erned the petty states indirectly through dynastic influ- 
ences, for nearly all the rulers of the so-called independent 
Italian states were foreign princes, most often Austrian or 
Spanish. 

During the nation-forming period in the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries, Italy did not produce a prince power- 
ful enough to conquer the whole peninsula and Rj va i r ; es f 
to unite all of the Italians under one rule. The the Italian 
great political thinker, Machiavelli, had dreamed 
of a united Italy, and had hoped to see it realized under 
a powerful monarch. But the various states, notably the 
Republics of Venice and Florence and the Kingdom of 
Naples, were too powerful to be absorbed in this way. A 
most intense local patriotism developed, which led to bitter 
rivalries, to internecine quarrels, and to frequent wars. 
Union was then regarded merely as something that would 
benefit one state at the expense of all the others ; as a con- 
sequence, the national ideal faded from the Italian mind. 

One element in the Italian political situation, the Papacy, 
had no parallel in any other country. Ever since the days 
of Pippin and Charlemagne, the Popes had been the rulers 
of the region known as the Papal States and were there- 



196 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

fore princes in their own right. The Popes well knew that 
Opposition the unification of Italy would spell the extinc- 
pacy 6 to uni- tlon °f the Papal States and the disappearance 
fication f their temporal power. They maintained that 

their spiritual power would suffer in dignity were their do- 
mains subject to any temporal ruler; in consequence, im- 
partiality toward Catholics of all nations, which it is in- 
cumbent upon them to exercise, would be impossible. The 
"Babylonian Captivity of the Church" 1 had never been 
forgotten by the Popes, who determined that under no cir- 
cumstances would they become "captives" in Italy. They 
therefore consistently opposed and, for a time effectively 
prevented, the unification of Italy. 

In spite of division, misrule, and internecine strife, Italy 
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries reached the very 
Decay of heights of civilization and prosperity. The whole 
Italy during WO rld flocked to Venice, Florence, Genoa, and 

the eight- ... . r r . 

eenth cen- Rome that they might sit at the feet ot the great 
tury masters of art, scholarship, and science, who were 

the glory of the Italian Renaissance. But a great change 
was wrought in the destiny of Italy by the discovery of 
America and the Cape route to India. During the seven- 
teenth century the Atlantic displaced the Mediterranean 
as the world's highway of commerce, and trade shifted from 
Southern to Northern Europe. Slowly but surely the pros- 
perity of Italy declined and, by the eighteenth century, 
cities like Venice, Genoa, Florence, and Milan, once great 
commercial centers, were stricken with economic death; 
their once busy marts, where the merchants of Europe and 
of Asia, used to congregate, were now silent and empty; 
their influence in international affairs disappeared ; their cul- 
ture decayed and became degenerate. What remained were 
political division, tyranny of the petty despots, and a great 
and glorious memory. The history of Italy during the eight- 
eenth century is almost a blank. During this period the 
great mass of the population was sunk in poverty, ignorance, 

1 This term is used to describe the period in Church history (1309-77) when 
the Popes lived in Avignon, in France, where their policies were dominated by 
the French kings. 



UNIFICATION 
OF ITALY 

ENGLISH MILES 

50 1 _ 

The dates are those of annexation to the 
Kingdom of Sardinia, and after 1861 to the 
Kingdom of Italy. 

I 1 Modena CD K'g'd of the Two Sicilies 

r~~l Tuscany 1 I K'g'd of Sardinia _ 

I 1 Lucca C3 States « the Church"~"V 

I 1 l'ariia CZ1 Austrian Ellin 




UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 197 

and superstition. The Italians were dreadfully in fear of 
their petty monarchs, who ruled over them with a brutal 
tyranny that is generally characteristic of petty monarchs. 
The upper classes contented themselves with contemplat- 
ing the grandeur of the past and with imitating its language 
and manners. Italy seemed to have fallen into a deathlike 
sleep from which she would never waken. 

She was, however, rudely awakened by the resounding 
trumpet call of the French Revolution. The revolutionary 
armies of France poured over the Alps and the The princi- 
petty Italian princes fled in terror, greatly to the P les °{ ^ 

. f . 1 • 1 • ■ French Rev- 

astomshment of their subjects, who, in their igno- olution in- 
rance, had always regarded them as great and troduced 
powerful monarchs. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity 
were proclaimed, and the French set energetically to work 
abolishing the old order and inaugurating the new. The 
various states were organized as republics. The remnants 
of medievalism, semi-serfdom, inequality before the law, 
and religious intolerance were abolished, and enlightened 
legal and administrative systems were established. Far- 
reaching social, political, and economic reforms were also 
introduced, so that in one decade of French rule Italy 
made centuries of progress. The Italians were dazed; lib- 
erty instead of tyranny had now suddenly descended upon 
them from beyond the Alps. 

During the Napoleonic regime, the country was prac- 
tically unified; the northwestern part was annexed to 
France; the northern part, Lombardy-Venetia, Unification 
was erected into the Kingdom of Italy with of Italy by 
Napoleon as King ; the southern part was erected 
into the Kingdom of Naples with Murat, Napoleon's brother- 
in-law, as King. A uniform system of administration and 
law was established throughout the peninsula, which really 
became a protectorate of France. Italy was now under the 
control of a foreign despot, but it was united for the first 
time since the ancient days of Rome. Liberty and union 
were the two miracles performed by the French for the 
Italians. 



198 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Restoration 

As we have already seen, 1 the Congress of Vienna redi- 
vided the country into ten states. The restored monarchs 
Return of returned full of hatred for the changes introduced 
division and by the French and determined to revive the old 
tyrannies, inequalities, and intolerances. Free- 
dom of speech and of association were banned, and the 
slightest manifestation of political liberty was mercilessly 
suppressed. The Church was restored to its former power, 
and non-Catholics were again denied religious freedom. 
Education was placed almost entirely in the hands of the 
clergy: the universities were put under the control of the 
Jesuits, and both students and teachers were subjected to 
their oversight. In the Papal States the Inquisition was 
reestablished to suppress intellectual freedom which was re- 
garded as a dangerous disease by the clergy, who aimed to 
close the minds of the inhabitants to all except Catholic in- 
fluences. The ' ' class called thinkers " was especially watched 
and harassed, for their influence was looked upon as dan- 
gerous to the Restoration. Everything of French origin was 
suspected as revolutionary. Victor Emmanuel I, King of 
Sardinia, had a botanical garden destroyed because it had 
been built by the French; the Pope abolished vaccination 
and street lighting as revolutionary innovations of the 
French; excavations at Pompeii, begun by French scien- 
tists, were discontinued by the order of the Government. 
In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, King Ferdinand I kept 
the administrative system established by the French, but 
the Government was all the more reactionary in practice; 
hunting liberals became an art and a pastime in Naples. 
Not only were the Governments reactionary, they were also 
corrupt and inefficient. Brigands roamed over Southern 
Italy, committing outrages and openly defying the authori- 
ties; finances were mismanaged and money was frequently 
misappropriated ; taxes were high and bore most heavily on 
the poor ; and the public service was disorganized by favor- 
itism and corruption. 

1 See p. 19. 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 199 

By far the most powerful influence in the peninsula was 
Austria. Two of the best parts, Lombardy-Venetia, were 
directly under Austrian rule and governed by Austria 
officials sent from Vienna; and the rulers of in Italy 
Modena, Parma, and Tuscany were related to the Haps- 
burg dynasty. King Ferdinand of Naples, though a Spanish 
Bourbon, was in close alliance with Austria and pledged to 
direct his foreign and domestic policies in accordance with 
the wishes of the Hapsburgs. Although the administration 
of Lombardy-Venetia was far more efficient and honest than 
that of the other states of Italy, it was nevertheless more 
bitterly detested, for Austria represented to the Italians 
everything that they wanted to be rid of — foreign domina- 
tion, absolutism, invasion, and division. Though divided 
into many states and factions, and though differing from one 
another in traditions, customs, and race, the Italians were 
nevertheless united in a common hate for the Tedeschi (Ger- 
mans), or Austrians. 

The Carbonari 

As in Germany, the political history of Italy from 181 5 
to 1870 flows in two main currents, liberty and union, or 
the establishment of constitutional government Opposition 
in the various states and the union of all into a to unification 

. r , by Austria 

common nationality, in the attainment 01 these and the Pa- 
objects the Italians encountered the same ob- pacy 
stacle as the Germans, namely, Austria; in addition, they 
had to face the bitter opposition of the Papacy, whose great 
power in Italy and enormous influence in the world would 
be marshaled against any movement looking toward uni- 
fication. Nearly all the Italians are Catholics, and they 
were very proud of the Papacy, which they regarded as an 
Italian institution that influenced the entire world. To 
favor unity meant to many devout Italian Catholics a pos- 
sible break with their faith, something which they viewed 
with dismay; and it was a cruel dilemma for sincere men 
and women who were thus obliged to choose between their 
country and their religion. Curious as it may seem, in Italy 
the Papacy actually constituted a bond of disunion. 



200 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Although the petty monarchs restored much of the 
ancien regime, there was one thing that they could not re- 
Activities of store > the old spirit of subserviency and fear, 
the Car- French rule had given the Italians a taste of 

bonan ... ■ . 

liberty and union, and the tyranny of the des- 
pots soon met with vigorous opposition. As peaceful means 
of agitation, freedom of speech and of association, were not 
permitted, Italians of necessity resorted to violent methods, 
such as conspiracy and assassination. There came into 
existence in the twenties a powerful secret society called 
the Carbonari, whose aim was to unify Italy under a con- 
stitutional government. As the society had no definite 
plan of realizing this aim, it resorted to conspiracy, assas- 
sination, and insurrection, hoping that the removal of the 
obstacles would result in bringing forth a plan of union. 
Outrages, such as the assassination of officials and the de- 
struction of property, were committed by the Carbonari, 
making it appear as much a criminal as a patriotic organi- 
zation. 

Inspired by the success of the Spanish revolution of 1820, 
the people of Naples, led by the Carbonari, rose in revolt 
Revolution during the same year. King Ferdinand I, badly 
of 1820 frightened by the strong support which the up- 

rising received from the army, readily promised to grant 
concessions. A democratic constitution was drawn up based 
on the one granted by the Spanish King, 1 which Ferdi- 
nand accepted and most solemnly swore to observe. This 
revolution, although in a small state, was considered suf- 
ficiently important to justify international action, as it was 
feared that its success would encourage the revolutionary 
elements in all other countries. To the international con- 
gresses of Troppau and Laibach came Ferdinand to seek 
the intervention of Europe in the affairs of his kingdom in 
order to overthrow the constitution which he himself had 
just granted. An Austrian army was sent into Naples, 
which ousted the recently established democratic govern- 
ment and reseated Ferdinand as absolute monarch. A ter- 

1 See p. 460. 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 201 

rible repression followed. To satisfy the vengeance of the 
faithless monarch, thousands were imprisoned, exiled, or 
executed. 

But no sooner was one revolution suppressed than an- 
other was begun. In 1821 an uprising took place in Pied- 
mont, where the revolutionists adopted a tri- Suppression 
color flag of green, white, and red, and de- riling by 
manded not only a constitution, but also war Austria 
with Austria as the enemy of the Italian people. Fearful 
of a civil war in case he refused these demands, and unwill- 
ing to seek foreign intervention like Ferdinand, King Victor 
Emmanuel I abdicated his throne in favor of his brother, 
Charles Felix. The latter was opposed to constitutional 
government, and he obtained the aid of Austrian and Rus- 
sian armies to suppress the uprising. In 1830 uprisings in 
Modena, Parma, and the Papal States were likewise put 
down through the aid of Austrian armies. The hatred of 
Austria among Italian patriots rose to a white heat of fury; 
they felt that this "fire department of Italy," that was al- 
ways rushing in to quench the flames of revolution, was the 
chief prop of despotism and division. 

Young Italy 

Far from being discouraged by the failure of the at- 
tempts to win political freedom, the Italian patriots set to 
work more energetically than ever before. The Fa ;i ure of 
cause for the failures so far lay in the fact that the Car- 

, , . . bonari 

the revolutionary movement was rooted in con- 
spiracy and therefore lacked a broad popular basis. The 
uprisings in the several states having been local had re- 
ceived little support among Italians generally. What was 
easily gained through a sudden insurrection of small groups 
was as easily lost through the Austrian bayonets that were 
ever at the beck and call of the Italian despots. Heroic 
work had been done by the Carbonari in keeping alive 
the revolutionary spirit, but its propaganda had never 
touched the mass of Italian people, who seemed apathetic 
to the agitation for liberty and union. 



202 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

In the thirties there appeared a new movement in Italy 
which goes by the general name of the Risorgimento (the 
The Risor- Resurrection), and which was destined to realize 
gtmento ^ e d ream D f an Italian Fatherland. This move- 

ment is unique in the history of nineteenth-century Eu- 
rope. It was largely the work of highly educated young 
men, whose intense earnestness, glowing enthusiasm, and 
'* self-sacrificing devotion to their country aroused the ad- 
miration of the world. 

Foremost among these young patriots was Giuseppe 
Mazzini (1805-72), the prophet of Italian unity. Maz- 
._ . . zini came of a well-to-do family of Genoa, and 

Mazzim , ... 

received a legal education at the university 01 
his native city. But his natural bent was for literature, and 
for a time he was a contributor to a literary journal in which 
he wrote articles on Dante, of whom he was a devoted 
admirer. Dante exercised a deep influence on the rising 
generation of Italians, who beheld in him their spiritual 
father. "They talk Dante, write Dante, and think and 
dream Dante to an extent that would be ridiculous but that 
he deserves it," wrote Byron in one of his letters from Italy. 
So, in a sense, Dante may be called one of the founders of 
United Italy. 

While a student Mazzini had become interested in the con- 
dition of his country. He had read much of her history, and 

he was greatly saddened at the fate that had 

Young Italy 1 T 1 -i , 

belallen the once great Italy, now mutilated, 

insignificant, and under the heel of foreigners. So deeply 
did he grieve for his native land that he was wont to dress 
himself in black, as if in mourning for her. Young Mazzini 
was convinced that he had no moral right to follow his pro- 
fession as a lawyer or his inclination as a literary man so 
long as his country was divided and enslaved. At the age of 
twenty-five he joined the Carbonari and was arrested for 
participating in an uprising; and it was while in prison, 
where he had plenty of time to think, that he evolved the 
plan for resurrecting Italy. Soon after his release in 1831 
he left the Carbonari, which he disliked as a mere conspira- 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 203 

tors' movement, and founded a new society called La 
Giovine Italia (Young Italy). It was composed of men 
under forty, intellectuals, who dedicated themselves to the 
task of liberating their country from foreign and domestic 
tyrants and to the establishment of a unified Italian re- 
public on a completely democratic basis. "God and the 
People" was the motto of Young Italy, for Mazzini was as 
ardent a democrat and moralist as he was a nationalist. The 
plan of the new society was to conduct an incessant cam- 
paign of agitation among all classes of Italians, who were 
to rise under the leadership of the young intellectuals, expel 
the tyrants, and call a national convention to inaugurate 
the Italian Republic. " Place the youth of the nation at 
the head of the insurgent masses," he declared; "you do not 
realize the strength that is latent in these young men or 
what magic influence the voice of youth has on crowds. You 
will find in them a host of apostles for the new religion." 
Mazzini dedicated himself to his "apostolate," as he called 
his patriotic activity. He had a religious, almost a mystic, 
enthusiasm for his work, for he loved Italy "above all 
earthly things." In spite of his country's degradation, he 
believed that "a nation which has been enslaved for cen- 
turies can regenerate itself through virtue and through 
self-sacrifice." Italy had a third life to lead. Once she had 
ruled the world through the Roman Empire ; later she had 
ruled the world through the Papacy; and now the Third 
Italy, the "Rome of the People," "radiant, purified by suf- 
fering, would move as an angel of light among the nations 
that thought her dead." 

Although an intense nationalist, Mazzini was not at all 
a chauvinist. His conception of patriotism was to love one's 
country most devotedly and, at the same time, to Mazzini 's 
admire and respect every other country, because natlonallsm 
each one had something precious to give to civilization. He 
believed that if every nation were permitted to exist un- 
disturbed, the chief cause for war would disappear. Italy's 
mission was to teach mankind to love and to cherish as 
an ideal the brotherhood of nations. He became an active 



204 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

champion of oppressed nationalities, Hungarians, Poles, 
and Irish, and organized an international society called 
Young Europe, whose object was to form a Holy Alliance 
of the peoples as a counterweight to the Holy Alliance of 
the despots. 

Mazzini's magic voice aroused the Italian youth as noth- 
ing else had ever done before. In a short time there were 
Activities of over sixty thousand members in Young Italy. 
Young Italy j^ new spirit, that of moral enthusiasm for a 
holy cause, was breathed into a political movement by the 
fervent eloquence of this prophet of Italian freedom, who 
asserted that Italians -had not only Austrians to fight but 
also "the dissension, the vices, the impotence, and the hope- 
lessness that come of servitude." Although gentle and 
pure-hearted, Mazzini sometimes resorted to conspiracies 
as bad and as hopeless as those that once disgraced the Car- 
bonari. He lived most of his life in exile, mainly in England 
and in France, where he was incessantly organizing insur- 
rections and even assassinations, all of which ended in fail- 
ure. Hundreds of the noblest youths of Italy paid with 
their lives for their futile efforts to free their country. 
Mazzini was not a statesman or an organizer; he had little 
if any practical ability ; his real contribution was in awaken- 
ing the Italian people to patriotic enthusiasm, without which 
the great plans of the statesman, Cavour, could not have 
succeeded. 

Another interesting personality in the Risorgimento was 
the priest, Gioberti, whose book, The Moral and Civil 
. Primacy of the Italian People, had a wide influ- 
ence. Gioberti believed that God had chosen 
Italy to be the leader of humanity, because she had shown 
herself to be "the home of creative genius," having given 
birth to the greatest thinker, Dante, and to the greatest 
doer, Napoleon. He was opposed to the use of force in the 
endeavor to bring about the unification of Italy; his solution 
was that the various states join in a voluntary federal union 
under the presidency of the Pope. 

A new Pope, Pius IX, was elected in 1846, who for a time 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 205 

was very popular throughout Italy because of his liberal 
policies. He granted an amnesty to political 
offenders and appointed an able and enlightened 
minister, Rossi, to administer the Papal States. He also 
showed himself hostile to Austrian influences, greatly to the 
delight of the Italian patriots, who hailed Pio Nono as the 
coming redeemer of Italy. "They want to make a Napo- 
leon of me who am only a poor country parson," the Pope 
once declared. 

The Revolution of 1848 

The year 1848 was significant in Italy, as in Germany, 1 
in the fact that there was a confluence of the two currents, 
nationalism and democracy. Rebellions broke Consti- 
out against the petty despots throughout the tutIon s 
peninsula, which at first proved successful, as war against 
constitutions were granted in many states. King ustna 
Charles Albert of Sardinia, a man of liberal ideas, who had 
ascended the throne in 1831, now took the opportunity of 
granting a constitution to his subjects. Milan, the leading 
city of Lombardy, rose and expelled the Austrian troops; 
and the entire region then voted to join Piedmont. Under 
the heroic leadership of Daniele Manin, Venice also rose 
against the Austrians and reestablished herself as a republic. 
Florence followed the example of Venice. In Naples, King 
Ferdinand II was compelled, like his father before him, to 
grant a constitution. An uprising took place in Rome; the 
Pope was forced to flee, and the city was organized as the 
Roman Republic, with Mazzini and Garibaldi as the lead- 
ing spirits. The national movement received a great im- 
petus when King Charles Albert declared war against Aus- 
tria in order to free Italy from the hated Tedeschi. "Italia 
fard da se" (Italy will do it herself), he proudly declared. 
The Austrian Government, hard pressed by the uprising in 
Vienna, was not in a position to spare many soldiers to 
fight the Italians: everything seemed propitious for realizing 
liberty and union, long awaited and now at hand. 

1 See p. 128. 



206 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

But bitter disappointment was in store for the Italian 
patriots, for Austria was not so weak as it was thought. 
Defeat of Her enemies were divided and she proceeded to 
Sardinia conquer them piecemeal. Sardinia's bold chal- 
lenge received no organized support from the other states, 
who were intent on overthrowing their local tyrants. En- 
thusiastic volunteers from all over Italy did flock to the ban- 
ner of Charles Albert, but the latter's armies were no match 
for the large force that Austria was able to send into Italy 
under the command of Marshal Radetzky, one of the fore- 
most generals of the day. The Sardinian armies were badly 
defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Custozza in 
1848, and again at Novara in 1849. Charles Albert was so 
despondent over the outcome that he deliberately sought 
death on the battlefield; but even death had cast him off, 
he bitterly complained. In disgust, he abdicated the throne 
in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel II, and went into vol- 
untary exile. 

Austria offered advantageous terms of peace to the new 
King provided he would repeal the constitution granted 
Loyalty of by his father. But Victor Emmanuel stoutly 
Victor Em- refused to accept these terms and his proud 

manuel to . r i i 

the consti- reply to Austria was, What my lather has 
sworn to, I will maintain. If you wish a war to 

death, so be it. . . . If I must fall, it will be without shame; 

my House knows the road to exile, but not to dishonor." 

The Sardinian King's loyalty to the constitution won for 

him the admiration of the Italian patriots, who hailed him 

as II Re galantuomo (The Honest King) . 

A wave of reaction swept over Italy. The revolutionary 

governments set up in the various parts of the peninsula 
were all overthrown. In Naples the suppression 

Reaction . ^ , 

was particularly severe, as no mercy was shown 
by King "Bomba," 1 whose ferocity excited great indigna- 
tion in Europe, and Gladstone denounced the Neapolitan 
Government as the very "negation of God created into a 

1 The name given to Ferdinand because he had ordered the bombardment 
of several cities that had revolted against him. 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 207 

system." Thousands of liberals were executed or tortured 
in prison with inhuman cruelty. The Roman Republic was 
overthrown and the Pope restored through the aid of a 
French army sent by the Prince- President, Louis Napoleon, 
who wished to gain the favor of the French Catholics in 
order to further his ambitions. 

The results of the uprising of 1848 were most depressing 
to those who had consecrated their lives to the liberation 
of Italy. Reaction was triumphant everywhere, The P 
and there was now another foreign army, the becomes re- 
French, encamped on Italian soil. Pope Pius IX ac lonary 
repented of his liberalism, which he now believed had en- 
couraged and not allayed revolution; and he became an 
unflinching opponent of Italian nationalism and democracy. 
As a consequence, the movement for unification became 
strongly tinged with anti-clericalism, for the Italian patriots 
saw in the Pope and in the French army stationed in Rome 
to protect him additional obstacles to their plans. 

There was one crumb of comfort for the revolutionists. 
Sardinia had emerged defeated but morally victorious. 
Henceforth, Italian hopes centered about the Sardinia the 
House of Savoy that had fought the common hope of the 
enemy, Austria, and had remained faithful to 
the principle of popular government. The Sardinian Con- 
stitution, the Statuto of 1848, was later to become the con- 
stitution of United Italy. 

Cavour 

In the middle of the nineteenth century Sardinia was a 
nation of about five and a half millions, most of whom were 
engaged in agriculture. As there were only two . 

fairly large cities in the kingdom, Turin, the 
capital, and Genoa, the middle class was small and weak. 
The dominant class was a landed aristocracy which some- 
what resembled that of Prussia in vigor and military capa- 
city. By far the greatest asset of the kingdom was the 
House of Savoy, liberal, patriotic, and Italian by race, a 
striking contrast to the other dynasties in Italy. 



208 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

King Victor Emmanuel II was a man of sterling honesty 
and sound common sense, but he was not gifted with abil- 
ities of a very high order. Fortunately for him 
and for Italy, there appeared a man at the helm 
of the Sardinian state who proved himself one of the master 
statesmen of an age that could boast of Bismarck, Glad- 
stone, Disraeli, and Thiers. Camille Benso, Count di Cavour 
(1810-61), was descended from an old noble family of Pied- 
mont. He had traveled extensively in Europe, especially 
in France and in England, where he was often thrown in 
contact with the well known Liberals of the time, and he 
became an enthusiastic admirer of the parliamentary sys- 
tem of government as practiced in England. "Parliamen- 
tary government, like other governments," he once declared, 
"has its inconveniences; yet, with its inconveniences, it is 
better than all the others. I may get impatient at certain 
oppositions, and repel them vigorously; and then, on think- 
ing it over, I congratulate myself on these oppositions 
because they force me to explain my ideas better and to 
redouble my efforts to win over public opinion. . . . Believe 
me, the worst of Chambers is still preferable to the most 
brilliant of antechambers." Unlike many of the Italian 
nobility, he became a strong nationalist, and he was in- 
strumental in founding the Risorgimento, a newspaper de- 
voted to the cause of Italian unity. Cavour read and wrote 
much on economic subjects, in which he was greatly inter- 
ested. He proposed plans for an extensive railway system 
which would facilitate commerce and unite Italy economi- 
cally. He favored other policies which would develop his 
country industrially and so enlarge the numbers and in- 
fluence of the middle class. From the nobility, tied by their 
interests to the old system, and from the peasantry, dulled 
by poverty and ignorance, little was to be expected; only 
an intelligent and independent middle class would be will- 
ing and able to take the leadership in the movement to 
unite the country. 

Cavour, unlike Mazzini, had no gift for poetic flights 
of oratory. His was a clear, cool, practical mind with an 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 209 

unerring "tact to discern the possible," that could foresee, 
plan, and direct the enthusiasm and energies of His abil _ 
others. "I cannot make a speech, but I can ityasa 
make Italy," he is said to have remarked. There ip ° ma 
was hardly a diplomat in all Europe that was a match for 
this Sardinian, whose subtle mind could weave a diplomatic 
web so finely and skillfully that his enemies would be en- 
tangled in it unawares. Like his contemporary diplomats, 
and for that matter like the diplomats of all ages and of all 
nations, he was usually unscrupulous as to the means that 
he employed to accomplish his ends. However, his " fine 
Italian hand" was always used in the service of a great and 
noble cause, the union of his dismembered Fatherland and 
its elevation to one of the great powers of the world. 

Cavour was convinced that there was only one practical 
plan to unite Italy: Sardinia 1 must stand forth as the un- 
swerving champion of unity, and she must call His 
upon the Italian people to support her in the llberahsm 
struggle against despotism, whether domestic or foreign. 
"Piedmont, gathering to herself all the living forces of 
Italy," he declared, "will be soon in a position to lead our 
mother country to the high destinies to which she is called." 
As a thorough believer in the doctrine that no government 
is legitimate unless it has the full consent of the governed, 
he was determined that Sardinia should not conquer and an- 
nex the rest of Italy, but should drive out Austria and the 
petty monarchs, and then ask the people themselves to de- 
termine their political destiny through a plebiscite. " Italy 
must make herself through liberty or we must give up try- 
ing to make her," he declared. 

Cavour entered the Sardinian Cabinet in 1850 as Minister 
of Commerce. Two years later he became Prime Minister, 
a position which he filled almost continuously TT . 

•n 1 . it . . , His reforms 

till the end of his life, receiving always the un- 
swerving support of his King. The relations between Vic- 
tor Emmanuel II and Cavour were not unlike those of King 

1 The terms "Sardinia," ''Piedmont," and "Savoy" are used synonymously 
for the territory ruled by the House of Savoy. 



210 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

William I and Bismarck: both monarchs relied absolutely 
on their extraordinary ministers, who really ruled while the 
former reigned. Cavour was most active in encouraging the 
economic development of Sardinia. Railways were built; 
commerce and industry were stimulated by enlightened laws 
and favorable commercial treaties; the finances were put on a 
sound basis; the army was reorganized and put in excellent 
fighting condition. Like many liberals of that day, Cavour 
was hostile to the Catholic Church, which he regarded as 
the most powerful prop of the old system. Largely through 
his influence, the Sardinian Parliament passed the Siccardi 
Laws (1850), which abolished the civil jurisdiction of the 
ecclesiastical courts and forbade the acceptance of property 
by any corporation, civil as well as religious, without the 
consent of the State. Five years later he made war on the 
monasteries. A law was passed suppressing all religious 
orders except those that were engaged in education, charity, 
and preaching. In spite of the stormy opposition aroused by 
this law, more than half of the monasteries in the King- 
dom of Sardinia were suppressed. 

Cavour came upon the scene after every plan and every 
effort to unite Italy had failed miserably. The Carbonari 
His plan of w * tn * ts conspiracies, Young Italy with its 
an alliance sporadic uprisings, and Sardinia with its little 
war, had all in turn proved unequal to the task. 
"What plan could now succeed?" many Italians asked 
themselves in despair. The failure of Sardinia in the war 
against Austria in 1848 had proved that Italy could 
not do it herself. Cavour had little faith in popular upris- 
ings, so often badly organized and poorly led and conse- 
quently doomed to failure. Mazzini he regarded as a fanatic 
who would ruin any cause by his lack of moderation and 
practical ability. A new and bold plan was born in Cavour' s 
mind, namely, that Europe should unite Italy! For many 
centuries the nations of Europe had intervened in Italian 
affairs for their own good ; why should they not now inter- 
vene for Italy's good? In other words, Cavour's project was 
to form an alliance between Sardinia and some great Eu- 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 211 

ropean power for the purpose of driving out the Austrians, 
the chief obstacle to Italian unification. But which power 
should this be? His choice, for several reasons, fell upon 
France. In the first place, Emperor Napoleon III was him- 
self partly of Italian origin; and, in the days of his exile 
when he had wandered into Italy, he had been for a time 
a member of the Carbonari. He was, besides, a sincere be- 
liever in the doctrine of nationalism, and the Italians could 
appeal to him on that basis. In the second place, a war 
with their old enemy, Austria, would be very popular among 
the French, the more so that it was for the sake of helping a 
people of Latin civilization like themselves. Finally, Sar- 
dinia had something substantial to offer to France in re- 
turn for her assistance, namely, the French-speaking dis- 
tricts known as Savoy and Nice. 

It now behooved Sardinia to show that she was worth 
fighting with as well as for. Cavour, to every one's amaze- 
ment, made war, not on Austria, but on Russia, Sardinia 
for a Sardinian army of seventeen thousand J° ms l ^ e , 

Allies in the 

picked troops was sent to support the Allies Crimean 
in the Crimean War. 1 So remote was Sardinia's r 
interest in the Eastern Question that the expedition was 
universally condemned as foolhardy, chimerical, and finan- 
cially ruinous to a small and poor state. But Cavour, of 
whom it was said that he had a "sure instinct for the neces- 
sity of the moment," saw in the Crimean War an oppor- 
tunity for Sardinia to show her fighting qualities and, above 
all, to gain representation at the peace congress that was to 
follow the war. When the peace congress assembled at 
Paris in 1856, Cavour was admitted as the representative of 
one of the belligerents. In a short but incisive address, he 
brought the question of Italian unity before this body. He 
pointed out the fact that the situation in Italy was a menace 
to the peace of Europe, and that Austria, the arch-enemy 
of Italian freedom and independence, was the disturbing 
factor in the peninsula. The address created a most favor- 
able impression on the delegates. 

1 See p. 630. 



212 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Napoleon III had been moving in the direction of an 
alliance with Sardinia. What probably hastened it was an 
Napoleon attack upon his life on January 14, 1858, by an 
decides on Italian patriot named Orsini, who threw a bomb 

an alliance . . 

with Sar- at him as he was driving through the streets 01 
dmia Paris. Napoleon escaped unharmed, but many 

bystanders were killed. Orsini, before his execution, wrote 
a pathetic letter to the Emperor, claiming that he had com- 
mitted the crime in order to call the attention of the world 
to his country's woes, and begging the Emperor to come to 
Italy's rescue. Napoleon was deeply moved by this appeal, 
and perhaps also by fear of another attempt on his life, so 
he decided to intervene in Italian affairs. 

On July 21, 1858, Cavour and Napoleon met "by acci- 
dent" at Plombieres, a little town in France, where they 
The secret held a momentous interview. Here they secretly 
af r phDm- nt agreed upon an alliance between France and 
bieres Sardinia, and upon the following comprehensive 

plan: (1) that French and Sardinian armies were to drive 
Austria out of Lombardy-Venetia, which were then to be 
annexed to Sardinia; (2) that the Duchies of Parma and 
Modena and parts of the Papal States were also to be an- 
nexed to Sardinia; (3) that a central kingdom was to be 
formed of Tuscany and what was left of the Papal States; 
(4) that the city of Rome and the region around it was to 
be left to the Pope, who was to be compensated by being 
made President of a confederation of the three kingdoms, 
Sardinia, the proposed Central Kingdom, and Naples. In 
return, Sardinia was to cede Savoy and Nice to France. As 
an additional item in the bargain, it was agreed that Prin- 
cess Clothilde, the young daughter of Victor Emmanuel, 
should marry Prince Napoleon, a cousin of the Emperor. 

What now remained was to arrange matters so that Aus- 
tria would appear the aggressor in the eyes of the world. 
Quarrel be- But how was Austria to be provoked into a 
trirandSr- declaration of war against Sardinia? Disturb- 
dinia ances were instigated in the duchies by Cavour's 

agents which so infuriated Austria that she threatened war. 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 213 

England now intervened and proposed a conference to set- 
tle the quarrel between Austria and Sardinia, but the former 
refused to accept this proposal. Instead, she sent an ultima- 
tum to Sardinia demanding that she disarm within three 
days or war would follow. This was precisely what Cavour 
desired, and he promptly rejected the ultimatum. Where- 
upon, on April 19, 1859, Austria declared war against Sar- 
dinia. Public opinion in Europe severely arraigned Austria 
for what was regarded as an act of brutal aggression by a 
big nation against a little one. French armies poured over 
the Alps to help the little nation. At their head was the 
Emperor himself, who promised to free Italy "from the 
Alps to the Adriatic." 

The Austro-Sardinian War of 1859 lasted about two 
months. The main military problem was to drive the Aus- 
trians from a line of strong fortified places in The Austro- 
Lombardy-Venetia, called the Quadrilateral. Sardinian 
Two great battles were fought, one at Magenta 
on June 4 and the other at Solferino on June 24, in which 
the allied French and Sardinian armies were completely 
victorious over the Austrians, who were then compelled 
to abandon Lombardy. Preparations were being made to 
invade Venetia, when news came that Napoleon III, with- 
out even consulting Sardinia, had made a separate peace 
with Austria at Villafranca. This act of faithlessness so 
astounded and infuriated Cavour that his condition at 
times bordered upon madness. He lost his habitual cool- 
ness, and in a fit of rage at the Emperor he counseled King 
Victor Emmanuel to continue the war alone. But the lat- 
ter saw the folly of such a course, and declined to follow his 
Minister's advice. Cavour thereupon resigned. Six months 
later, however, he came back to his old post. 

Why had Napoleon deserted his ally? In the first place, 
the Emperor was the kind of man who was willing to help a 
friend, but not to help him too much, lest he be- R easons f or 
come a troublesome rival. His original intention Napoleon's 

... A.T 1 desertion 

was merely to enlarge Sardinia into a JNortn- 

Italian kingdom. The defeat of Austria, however, set Ital- 



214 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ian hearts beating fast, for they now saw an opportunity 
to unite the entire peninsula. While the war was in prog- 
ress, revolutions were taking place in Modena, Parma, 
Tuscany, and in that part of the Papal States known as 
Romagna; and in each place the rulers were being driven 
out and popular assemblies were voting for annexation to 
Sardinia. A united Italy was not just to the liking of Napo- 
leon, for he feared that France might be confronted with a too 
powerful rival on the Mediterranean. Another cause for his 
withdrawal was that the Catholics in France were clamoring 
against the Emperor's alliance with the Italian nationalists, 
the sworn enemies of the Pope's temporal power; Napoleon 
decided to appease them by retiring from the contest. 

The Peace of Zurich, signed on November 10, 1859, which 
officially terminated the Austro-Sardinian War, granted 
All parties Lombardy to Sardinia. 1 This was the only 
ItdeofSar- change made, but Napoleon's intervention had 
dinia given such a momentum to Italian unity as no 

other event in all Italian history had given it. Austria, the 
arch-enemy, had been beaten and the petty tyrants could 
no longer rely upon her support. On the contrary, should 
uprisings take place, the insurgents could now count on 
the active support of the enlarged Kingdom of Sardinia. 
All Italian parties, republican, federalist, and monarchist, 
began to rally to the House of Savoy, which, it was clearly 
seen, was destined to accomplish the unification of the coun- 
try. Enthusiastic republicans like Garibaldi and Manin 
freely offered their services to Cavour. Mazzini, however, 
remained irreconcilable. "I bow my head sorrowfully to 
the national will," he declared, "but monarchy will never 
number me among its servants or followers." 

The use of foreign armies to restore unpopular rulers 
Advance of was now universally condemned. In England 
Italian unity Lord Palmerston vigorously asserted that every 
people had the right to dispose of itself politically in 
whatever manner it wished. To this doctrine Napoleon 

1 The annexation of Lombardy was on the theory that the inhabitants had 
already signified their willingness to join Sardinia. See p. 205. 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 215 

gave his assent. During i860 plebiscites were held in Mo- 
dena, Parma, Tuscany, and Romagna, and the result was 
an almost unanimous vote in favor of joining Sardinia. 
Annexations promptly followed. A plebiscite was also held 
in Savoy and Nice, where overwhelming majorities voted 
to join France. Whereupon these two districts were ceded 
to France by the Sardinian Parliament, though not with- 
out the bitter opposition of patriots like Garibaldi, who 
reproached Cavour for making him a stranger in his native 
land, for he was born in Nice. 

Garibaldi 

A striking figure, Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82), whose 
romantic character and extraordinary exploits have en- 
shrined him as the leading hero of the Risorgi- Garibaldi's 
mento, now appears most prominently on the and^adven- 
scene of his country's history. Garibaldi was one tures 
of the young men whose patriotism was awakened by the 
eloquence of Mazzini, and, at the age of twenty-four, he 
joined Young Italy. He participated in an insurrection, for 
which he was condemned to death ; but he managed to escape 
to South America, where he took a prominent part in several 
revolutionary wars, earning a reputation as a daring and 
resourceful guerrilla chieftain. He returned to Italy during 
the uprisings in 1848, and organized a volunteer army of 
about three thousand men, composed of dare-devil patriots, 
who were ready to follow him anywhere. His gallant defense 
of the Roman Republic against the French won him the love 
and admiration of his fellow republicans, who hailed him as 
the military leader of the popular party. After the capture of 
Rome, he and his little band were driven all over Italy by 
French, Austrian, and Neapolitan armies. He showed remark- 
able skill in dodging his pursuers, and he finally managed to 
reach the coast and to escape to America. For several years 
he again lived in exile, sometimes as a candle-maker on 
Staten Island, sometimes as captain of a sailing vessel trad- 
ing with South America. In 1854 ne returned to Italy and 
settled down as a farmer on the little island of Caprera. 



216 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Garibaldi's name had become one to conjure with in 
Italy, and his exploits were on every one's lips. The Ri- 
His sorgimento had produced many men who were 

character ready to sacrifice themselves unreservedly for 
their country, but none more unselfish, more chivalrous, or 
more heroic than Garibaldi. He seemed a half-legendary 
hero, like Bayard or Joan of Arc, sent by Providence to lead 
his fellow countrymen to victory. In many respects Gari- 
baldi resembled the American, Andrew Jackson; like him, 
he was hot-headed, stubborn, and foolhardy, but generous, 
brave, and patriotic to a fault. He disliked Cavour in- 
tensely as a cold, calculating schemer; yet he realized half 
regretfully that unity could be obtained only through the 
House of Savoy. Although he loved the Republic, he loved 
Italy more, and therefore decided to rally to the monarchy. 
In the war of 1859 he rendered notable service as the head 
of a volunteer corps known as the "Hunters of the Alps," 
defeating the Austrians in several engagements. 

But Garibaldi's most famous exploit was the "Expedition 
of the Thousand." He had formed the daring design of 
The Sicilian making war on his own account against King 
expedition Francis II, who had succeeded King "Bomba." 
On May 5, i860, about a thousand poorly equipped, badly 
armed men, wearing red shirts and slouch hats, set sail from 
Genoa with the purpose of making war against the King- 
dom of Naples, with a population of eleven million and an 
army of one hundred and twenty-five thousand. The story 
of this daring expedition of the "Red Shirts" reads like a 
heroic epic. Garibaldi and his Thousand landed at Massala, 
at the extreme western tip of Sicily. Through extraordinary 
marching and fighting against tremendous odds, he finally 
managed in less than a month to enter Palermo in tri- 
umph, having conquered the entire island of Sicily, of which 
he was proclaimed Dictator in the name of Victor Emman- 
uel. Italy was thrilled as it had seldom been before. It was 
devoutly believed that Garibaldi was an agent of Providence 
possessing miraculous powers which gave him a charmed 
life. There had been only too many instances of foolhardy 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 217 

attempts by small bands to overthrow tyranny, that had 
failed; this one, equally foolhardy, succeeded and gave to 
Garibaldi and his Thousand immortal fame. 

In August of the same year, Garibaldi with an army of 
four thousand set sail for the mainland to conquer Naples. 
The moment he landed, the people and many of Conquest 
the soldiers in the army of King Francis became of Na P les 
his enthusiastic followers. His ranks soon swelled to fifty 
thousand men. The march to Naples was a veritable tri- 
umphal procession. Whole armies, sometimes without 
striking a blow, surrendered to him. Many of the Neapoli- 
tan troops mutinied, murdered their officers, and joined the 
Garibaldians. One desperate battle took place, that of 
Volturno, in which Garibaldi defeated an army twice the 
size of his own. Francis II fled and Garibaldi assumed the 
dictatorship of the entire Kingdom. 

The question now was, "What was to be done with the 
conquered regions?" Cavour, who had half countenanced 
the expedition, feared that the hero, who utterly Proclama- 
lacked political capacity, might lose all that had Kingdom of 
been gained by an imprudent step which he was Italy 
now meditating, namely, to march on Rome. This would 
lead to a conflict with France, quite a different matter from 
attacking a demoralized kingdom like Naples. Sardinia 
must now act and take charge of the situation. Victor Em- 
manuel, at the head of his army, crossed over into the Papal 
States, occupying Umbria and The Marches, though care- 
fully avoiding Rome, and entered Naples, where he defeated 
the remnants of the army of Francis II. The Sardinian 
Parliament then voted for the annexation of the recently 
conquered territory, provided the inhabitants agreed to it. 
A plebiscite was held in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 
the Marches, and Umbria, and the result was an over- 
whelming vote in favor of joining Sardinia. Victor Emman- 
uel and Garibaldi drove together through the streets of the 
city of Naples amid the wild applause of the people. Gari- 
baldi magnanimously resigned his dictatorship, and Victor 
Emmanuel II was proclaimed King of Italy, "by the grace 



218 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of God and the will of the people," by the first Italian Par- 
liament, which met in Turin on February l8, 1861. Sar- 
dinia had now been merged in Italy, and the work of Maz- 
zini, Cavour, and Garibaldi was crowned with success. The 
last, refusing all honors, titles, oihces, and pensions, retired 
to his farm in Caprera. 

Rome 

Unfortunately for Italy, Cavour died soon after the 
proclamation of her unity, leaving to his successors the 
Rom nd solution of the knotty Venetian and Roman 
United problems. The Austrians were still in Venetia 

and the Pope was still in Rome. Cavour had 
firmly believed that without Rome as the capital, Italy's 
unification would be sadly incomplete; for the historic posi- 
tion of the Eternal City, with its immortal memories, was 
such that Italians could not allow another power to possess 
it. "To go to Rome," said his successor, Ricasoli, "is not 
merely a right; it is an inexorable necessity." In regard to 
the future relations between Church and State, Cavour's 
famous dictum was, "A free Church in a free State"; by 
which he meant that the former should be entirely free to 
exercise her spiritual powers and leave politics entirely to 
the latter. 

Pope Pius IX refused to recognize the new Kingdom, 
which he denounced as the creation of revolution. He ex- 
The Roman communicated the leaders of the nation, includ- 
Question j n g \ T i c tor Emmanuel II, whom he denounced 
as "forgetful of every religious principle, despising every 
right, trampling upon every law." His position as King of 
Italy was, therefore, according to the Pope, "a sacrilegious 
usurpation." In spite of the general desire among the 
Italians to seize Rome, the Government was loath to take 
such a step. It well knew that to attack the Pope would 
be to invite war with France, for the Catholics in the latter 
country were clamoring for intervention on behalf of the 
Papacy. There was also the danger of offending the entire 
Catholic world and possibly of bringing about an armed 



UNION AND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY 219 

intervention by the Catholic powers. The Government, 
therefore, decided to bide its time and to pursue a policy 
of watchful waiting, hoping that a favorable opportunity 
would arrive for deci ive action. Rome was defended by the 
French army sent over in 1849 and by a Catholu army of 
about twenty thousand men, mainly Irish, Belgian , and 
Austrians, who had volunteered to defend the Pope against 
Italian aggression. 

Garibaldi became impatient at the delay of the Italian 
Government, and he de< ided to attack Rome independently. 
He hotly refused to listen to a policy of caution. Garibaldi 
In J 862, against the earnest ad vice of the author!- attacloi 
ties, he and his bands sel out to attack Rome. 
Italian troops were sent to stop him; and there actually 
took pla< <■ a bai tie al Aspromonte between the Garibaldians 
and the Italian army, in which Garibaldi was wounded "by 
an Italian bullet," as he put it, and he retired in disgusl to 
his farm. In 18G7 he made another attempt to seize Rome 
and was again defeated, this time at Mentana, by the French 
and Papal armies. 

During the Seven Weeks' War between Austria and 
Prussia, in 1866, Italy joiner] forces with the yenetia 
latter. Although Austria sorely defeated Italy addedto 
in several battles, Prussia's overwhelming suc- 
cess compelled the former to eerie Venetia to Italy, which 
was annexed after a favorable plebiscite. 

When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, Napoleon III 
found that he needed every French soldier at home, and 
he withdrew the French garrison from Rome. Rome pro 

The Italians took immediate advantage of the claimed the 

1 t 1 r t capital 

situation and, on September 20, 1870, an It- 
alian army entered Rome in triumph. A plebiscite was then 
heir], and by a vote of 134,000 to 1500 the Romans de- 
clared for annexation to Italy. 'I his step was ratified by an 
act of Parliament, and Rome was proclaimed the capital 
of the Kingdom. In this way the temporal power of the 
Pope, which had held sway for over a thousand years, came 
to an end. Italy was now completely united at last. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 

Thiers and the Reconstruction of France 

Of the seven hundred and fifty members of the Na- 
tional Assembly which was called together at the end of 
The Nation- the Franco-Prussian War, only about two hun- 
al Assembly ^ re( j anQ i fif ty could be classed as Republicans. 
The rest were monarchists belonging to various factions: 
about three hundred were partisans of the House of Orleans, 
who favored the Count de Paris, grandson of Louis Philippe, 
for the throne; about one hundred were Legitimists, or 
partisans of the House of Bourbon, who favored the Count 
de Chambord, grandson of Charles X; about thirty were 
Imperialists, who wished to continue the Second Empire 
under the son of Napoleon III; and the remaining seventy 
were monarchists who were committed to no definite can- 
didate. The main reason for the choice of a monarchist 
Assembly was that the Republicans were in favor of con- 
tinuing the war; but the country, disgusted with the out- 
come, desired peace as soon as possible, and therefore voted 
against the Republican candidates. 

The National Assembly chose Adolphe Thiers as the 

"Chief of the Executive Power" with full authority to 

conclude peace with Germany. Thiers was now 

Thiers 

an old man of seventy-three. Throughout his 
long political career he had been known as a shrewd poli- 
tician whose tactics might be shifty, but whose consistent 
support of the interests of the middle classes was never 
doubted. He was therefore a Liberal of the school of 
Guizot and a partisan of the House of Orleans. In appear- 
ance Thiers was, at this time, a little old man with a smooth- 
shaven face, wearing "the eternal frock coat" of the bour- 
geois. His speeches were logical and convincing as well as 
eloquent. He was the typical French bourgeois in politics; 




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THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 221 

and so bitterly was he opposed to socialism in every form 
that, at times, he was willing to go to the length of com- 
promising with reaction in order to prevent the "vile mob" 
from getting into power. Although a Voltairean in his per- 
sonal attitude toward religion, Thiers had been chiefly 
instrumental in passing the Falloux Law, 1 on the ground 
that Catholic education would have a conservative influ- 
ence on the lower classes. 

But the Franco-Prussian War transformed this aged 
politician, who had spent almost his entire public life in 
opposition, into a constructive statesman. Dur- The Com _ 
ing the critical period following the great dis- P act of B ° r - 
aster Thiers was a tower of strength to his dis- 
tracted countrymen. He discarded all party politics and 
devoted himself whole-heartedly to the welfare of France, 
cooperating with any faction and with any man who was 
willing to join him in the patriotic work. The National 
Assembly, inspired by Thiers's patriotism, adopted what 
came to be known as the " Compact of Bordeaux," whereby 
it was agreed that political differences should be put aside 
in order to carry through expeditiously the work of recon- 
struction. 

Four great questions faced the Assembly: peace with 
Germany, the suppression of the Commune, the reorganiza- 
tion of the army, and the adoption of a definite p ayment f 
form of government. As we have already seen, 2 the indem- 
the Treaty of Frankfort, drawn up mainly by 
Bismarck and Thiers, was ratified by the Assembly. It be- 
came necessary to raise the enormous indemnity of a billion 
dollars and to pay also the cost of the German army of 
occupation which was to remain in France until the indem- 
nity was paid. Two loans, contracted by the French Gov- 
ernment for this purpose, were readily subscribed to many 
times over by the people, so that the indemnity was rapidly 
liquidated. By 1873 the German army of occupation was 
out of France, and Thiers was gratefully hailed as the 
"Liberator of the territory." The rapid payment of this 
1 See p. 155. 2 See p. 193. 



222 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

huge indemnity revealed the great confidence in their coun- 
try's future felt by millions of Frenchmen, who freely gave 
their savings to the Government in the face of recent dis- 
asters; it revealed also the extraordinary prosperity that 
France had enjoyed under the Second Empire. 

Military reform was the next important step, for the war 
had disclosed the woeful disorganization of the army. As 
The new Prussia had learned from France after Jena, so 
army law France learned from Prussia after Sedan. A 
new military law was passed in 1872 which reorganized 
the French army on the model of that of Prussia. The 
principle of universal military service was introduced, and 
all French citizens were obliged, at the age of twenty, to 
serve five years in active service, after which they passed 
through various reserves up to the age of forty. As in Prus- 
sia, exceptions were made in the case of those having a 
higher education ; these served one year only, and in lieu of 
the other four years they were required to pay three hun- 
dred dollars to the State. This law was readily accepted 
by the people, and it was the prelude to a military revival 
which greatly alarmed Bismarck. 

The Commune 

Misfortunes followed one after the other during the 
"terrible year," as the French call 1870. On the heels of a 
Hatred of disastrous war Came a bloody uprising known as 
the nfor k the" *-he "Commune," which far surpassed anything 
bourgeoisie of its kind in all the revolutionary history of 
France. A generation of suppression under the Second 
Empire had resulted in the growth of secret societies, whose 
propaganda was all the more violent because secret. The 
merciless suppression of the "June days" in 1848 had never 
faded from the memory of the French proletariat, whose 
unshakable conviction was that, no matter what form of 
government existed, their enemy was the bourgeoisie ; and in 
Thiers, as the head of affairs, they saw the very incarnation 
of their enemy. 

The election of a monarchist Assembly greatly exasper- 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 223 

ated the Republicans, those in Paris in particular, who did 
not wish to be governed by the ''clodhoppers," Versailles 
as they termed the Assembly, because it con- made the 
tained a large number of peasants. The Assem- p 
bly moved from Bordeaux, its first seat, to Versailles; it 
avoided Paris for fear of a possible interference with its 
deliberations by the mob, as in the time of the great Revolu- 
tion. Now that Paris was no longer the capital, many 
shopkeepers lost trade, and their prosperity as well as their 
pride was seriously hurt by this change, which greatly 
exasperated them. 

During the war business was naturally disorganized. 
As a war measure, the payment of rents, debts, and notes had 
been temporarily suspended. But when peace Financial 
came, the Assembly refused to grant any further hardshl P s 
dispensation and ordered the immediate payment of all 
indebtedness legally due. Thousands of Parisians had suf- 
fered severe financial as well as other hardships during the 
siege, and they denounced the act of the Assembly as com- 
pleting the ruin begun by the Germans. Many were evicted 
from their homes because of non-payment of rent, and many 
small shopkeepers were compelled to close their doors. 

What drove thousands of the Parisian poor into a state of 
desperation was the abolition of the National Guard by the 
Assembly. During the siege all able-bodied men Abolition of 
in Paris had been provided with arms and en- the National 
rolled in the militia, or National Guard. After 
enduring the hardships of the terrible siege, many of these 
guardsmen depended on their pay of thirty cents a day 
for their livelihood; and when the Assembly declared the 
Guard dissolved, they found themselves utterly destitute, 
but with arms in their hands: a dangerous situation any- 
where, but especially so in Paris with its revolutionary 
traditions. 

These various discontented elements coalesced and or- 
ganized what has been called the "Paris Com- The Com- 
mune," which was initiated by the members of mune 
the National Guard. A Central Committee of the latter was 



224 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

formed to defend the Republic, which had been proclaimed 
at the Hotel de Ville, against the monarchist National As- 
sembly at Versailles. The latter, fearing trouble, sent troops 
to seize the cannon in Paris, but the soldiers were sur- 
rounded by mobs and disarmed. War now began between 
Paris and the rest of France. The Central Committee, com- 
plete master of the city, ordered elections to be held in Paris 
for a General Council. Conservative electors, out of fear, 
kept away from the polls, so that only extreme radicals were 
chosen. The General Council then proclaimed Paris a "com- 
mune," adopted the red flag, and declared all acts of the 
Versailles Government to be null and void. It also issued 
a manifesto to the French people inviting them to organize 
similar communes and to unite in a national federation. 

The communists were a heterogeneous group of revolu- 
tionaries: socialists, anarchists, nihilists, and radical repub- 
Ideas of the licans, who, though sharply divided as to their 
communists sc hemes for reorganizing society and govern- 
ment, united in opposing the National Assembly. Among 
them the Jacobin ideals of '93 were strangely fused with the 
socialist ideals of '48. They revived the old Revolutionary 
calendar and attempted to reestablish the national work- 
shops. In a rather vague statement they declared that the 
Commune inaugurated "a new political era, positive and 
scientific. It marks the end of the old political and clerical 
world, of militarism, bureaucracy, exploitation, stock- 
jobbery, and special privileges, to which the proletariat 
owe their servitude and the Fatherland its misfortunes." 

These revolutionaries of '71 evidently came to the con- 
clusion that the establishment of a socialist state in France 
Communists as a whole was impossible, because in case of an 
centndize uprising the peasants always came to the aid of 
France the middle classes in the cities and undid the 

work of the revolutionary element. The communists turned 
to the idea of decentralizing France by giving each unit, or 
commune, great powers of local self-government. If this 
were accomplished the industrial centers might be able to 
establish the socialist commonwealth; for without peasant 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 225 

help the bourgeoisie would easily succumb to the attacks 
of the working classes. To the charge of the Versailles Gov- 
ernment that they were destroying the unity of France, the 
communists replied that that unity, "imposed upon us to 
this day by the Empire, the monarchy, and parliamentarism, 
is merely despotic, unintelligent, arbitrary, and onerous 
centralization," and that the true unity of France would 
consist in the free and spontaneous cooperation of the 
communes. 

The most important figure of the Commune was Louis 
Auguste Blanqui, a lifelong political conspirator and ardent 
revolutionist. Blanqui was an interesting type of „, 

1 1 • • »i 1 11 Blanqui 

eternal revolutionist, who belonged to no 
political party and to no definite school of social philosophy, 
but who continually agitated for a violent uprising against 
every existing regime. He was an important leader of the 
secret societies which brought about the Revolution of 
1830; he then conspired against Louis Philippe and was 
active in the Revolution of 1848; during the Empire he was 
busy organizing secret political societies. This fanatical 
revolutionist spent more than half his life in prison; no 
sooner was he released than he would immediately engage 
in stirring up rebellion. In the vague ideals and violent 
methods of the Commune Blanqui was in his element, and 
he became its ardent advocate and leader. 

In a skirmish between the regular troops and the com- 
munists, some of the latter were captured; and because the 
Versailles Government refused to treat them as prisoners of 
war, they were shot without trial as rebels and traitors. 
This infuriated the communists, who seized notable per- 
sonages living in Paris and held them as "hostages" under 
threat of death in case any more communist prisoners were 
shot. 

When the captive French armies were released from Ger- 
many, the National Assembly determined to Outrages 
put down the Commune without mercy. A new by^he^com- 
siege of Paris was begun in April, 1871, this munists 
time by the French army with the Germans looking on. 



226 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE] 

The city was taken after six weeks. Then followed a gigan- 
tic street struggle between the troops and the communists, 
each side desperate and merciless. In the streets were 
planted cannon that fired in every direction, causing untold 
havoc. Seeing themselves overcome by superior force, the 
communists resorted to frightful methods. They executed 
the hostages, one of them being the Archbishop of Paris, 
and began the destruction of the city by setting fire to 
famous buildings, such as the Hotel de Ville, the Palais 
de Justice, and the Tuileries. The Vendome Column was 
pulled down. Several streets were masses of flame. Noth- 
ing so frightful had ever taken place in Paris, not even during 
the Reign of Terror nor during the "June days" of 1848. 

The final stand of the communists was at the great 
cemetery of Pere-Lachaise, where a desperate encounter 
v took place. Finally, the troops managed to get 

of the Gov- the upper hand, and order was restored. The 
vengeance taken by the Versailles Government 
equaled in ferocity that displayed by the communists. All 
those taken with arms in their hands were stood up against 
a wall and summarily shot, and then buried in nameless 
masses. Thousands were arrested and, after a brief trial by 
court-martial, were sentenced to imprisonment, exile, or 
death. Thousands more fled to foreign countries to escape 
the fury of the Versailles Government. It is impossible to 
state accurately how many were killed during the uprising, 
but it is estimated that about seventeen thousand commun- 
ists perished. 

The Commune was a great blow to the peaceful growth 
of French socialism with which the uprising was identified. 
Growth of It was universally felt that the radical elements 
socialism ^ad taken advantage of the agony that France 

hindered . ° , ^ 

by the was suffering as a result of the war with Ger- 

many in order to foist their theories on their un- 
willing countrymen. And it was not for an entire genera- 
tion that socialism could once more raise its head in France. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 227 

Gambetta and the Triumph of the Republic 

The chief political problem in France during 1871-79 
was what form of government would finally be adopted. 
A truce had been called between the various fac- „. 

, . , . , . ... Rivet Law 

tions during the period 01 reorganization in or- 
der to strengthen the National Assembly in dealing with the 
questions confronting it. On August 31, 1871, the Rivet 
Law was passed, which gave to Thiers the title of "Presi- 
dent of the Republic," and made him responsible to the 
Assembly, which was now given constituent powers. It was, 
nevertheless, understood that the Republic was merely pro- 
visional, and was to give place to a monarchy as soon as the 
two royalist factions, the Legitimists and Orleanists, had 
composed their differences. 

What attitude Thiers was going to adopt became a matter 
of vital concern. Not only did he enjoy the confidence of the 
people, but he was also the leader of an impor- Thiers con . 
tant group in the Assembly, the Left Center, that verted to 
sometimes held the balance of power between the 
various factions. All his life he had been an Orleanist, but 
he was now willing, on patriotic grounds, to accept the Re- 
public, "that form of government which divides us least," 
as he called it in criticism of the three monarchist parties. 
But he let it be clearly understood that if the government 
was to be republican in form, it must be conservative in 
policy. "The Republic will be conservative or it will not 
exist," he warned his colleagues. His change of view greatly 
incensed the monarchists in the Assembly, who denounced 
the Republic as a breeder of "radicalism, anarchy, and 
moral chaos" ; in 1873 they passed a vote of censure against 
the President, who thereupon resigned. As his successor the 
Assembly chose Marshal MacMahon, a stanch royalist, 
with the understanding that he would make way for a king 
as soon as one was chosen. 

The action of the monarchist Assembly in forcing the 
resignation of Thiers, the "Liberator of the territory," dis- 
gusted the country, and at almost every by-election a 



228 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Republican was successful. To voice this change of senti- 
ment came Gambetta, who now entered the lists 
as the Republican champion against royalism, as 
at one time he had against imperialism. Gambetta's heroic 
part during the Franco- Prussian War had endeared him to 
masses of Frenchmen who had but little sympathy with his 
radical opinions. It now remained for him to begin the 
"republican education" of France, namely, to convert these 
masses to the idea of a republic. With this in view he began 
a series of speaking tours throughout the country, "swing- 
ing around the circle," addressing huge audiences and again 
rousing his countrymen to a high pitch of enthusiasm. 

If Thiers was in appearance the typical bourgeois, Gam- 
betta was the typical bohemian. His dark, curly hair and 
G . , flowing beard, his flashing eyes and careless, 
influence and joyous manner, his deep resonant voice rolling 
1 eas like musical thunder over great audiences, his 

flowing eloquence and exuberant imagination fascinated all 
those who came to hear him. Gambetta's very presence was 
an oration. Strange to say, he became the darling alike of 
the solid bourgeoisie and of the students in the Latin Quar- 
ter of Paris. Not only was he a great orator, one of the 
greatest of modern times, but he was also possessed of solid 
statesmanship and shrewd common sense. Gambetta be- 
lieved firmly in the principles of the French Revolution, 
namely, political democracy and intellectual freedom; in 
addition, he had a warm sympathy for the "new social 
strata," the working classes, to whom he believed political 
power was destined to pass. 1 But mindful of the Commune, 
he warned his fellow Republicans not to disturb the social 
order till democratic principles triumphed, and to endeavor 
to solve social problems in a spirit of moderation. "There is 
no Social Question," he once declared; "there are only social 
questions which have to be dealt with, one by one, as they 
come up." Gambetta was essentially an opportunist, asking 
for much and taking what he could get, and he was willing 

1 In 1879, his eloquence secured an act of amnesty for the imprisoned and 
exiled communists. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 229 

to work with a conservative like Thiers in order to realize at 
least some of his political ideals. Once, when he was being 
reproached for his opportunism, he replied: "A policy which 
would not take opportunity into account, I call a policy of 
disaster. Opportunism! What does the name signify if the 
country approves the thing!" The policies of the Third 
French Republic for a whole generation were deeply influ- 
enced by Gambetta's ideas, which were espoused by his 
disciples, Ferry, Bert, Freycinet, Waldeck-Rousseau, and 
Clemenceau. 

The rising tide of republicanism convinced the mon- 
archist factions that they must come to a decision without 
delay in choosing a king. They agreed to offer Monarchist 
the throne to the Count de Chambord, who factlons 

1 1 TT TT • 1 1 1 a § ree ° n the 

was to be crowned as Henry V, with the under- Bourbon 
standing that he, being childless, was to make claimant 
the head of the House of Orleans his heir and successor. 
The Count de Chambord was a true Bourbon, never 
.having learned anything and never having forgotten any- 
thing. He firmly believed that France had at ~, ~ 

. , The Count 

last repudiated democracy, whether republican de Cham- 
or imperial, and was now returning to the ideals 
of the ancien regime. "The issue at stake," he declared, 
"is none other than that of reconstructing society, now 
deeply disturbed, on its natural base . . . and not to 
fear to employ force in the service of order and justice." 
His loyalty to the traditions of the Bourbon family was 
sincere and devout. "For forty-three years," he proudly 
said, "I have preserved intact our sacred traditions and 
our liberties." He agreed to accept the crown on the terms 
offered and, as a sign that France had fully recanted her 
democratic past, he wished the National Assembly to abolish 
the tricolor flag, adopted during the Revolution, and to 
restore the fieur-de-lys of the Bourbons, "received as a 
sacred deposit from the old King, my grandfather, dying 
in exile." He rejected absolutely the tricolor, which he 
designated "a symbol of revolution." 
* The Assembly was in a quandary. To abolish the flag 



230 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

so dear to the French people, that had floated on many 
The question a victorious battlefield, might lead to an up- 
of the flag rising and possibly to a revolution, for it would 
be taken to mean that the restoration of the fleur-de-lys 
would be followed by the restoration of absolute monarchy. 
They tried hard to persuade the Count to accept the tri- 
color with the crown, but without avail. ''Henry V will 
never abandon the white flag of Henry IV," was his proud 
answer to the committee that came to see him about the 
matter. 

This curious situation was fortunate for the Republic, 
as it postponed the establishment of a monarchy and 
The consti- aroused the country to the true nature of the 
tution proposed restoration. In order to continue their 

control of the Government through MacMahon, the mon- 
archists in the Assembly passed, in 1873, the Septennate 
Act, extending the presidential term to seven years. It was 
thought that the Count de Chambord, being old, would 
probably die within this period and that the Count de 
Paris, who was willing to accept the tricolor, would then be 
chosen King. In 1875 a series of organic laws, passed by the 
Assembly, created a skeleton outline of a constitution, in 
which the word "Republic" was carefully omitted where- 
ever possible; when they came to designate the office of 
chief executive, however, it was voted by a majority of one 
to use the title "President of the Republic." Strangely 
enough, this stop-gap constitution, which was made a bare 
outline in order to ease the transition to monarchy, remains 
in substance the constitution of the present French Re- 
public. 

The Government, nominally a republic, then proceeded 
to make war upon the Republicans by using its vast power 
The election of patronage to favor royalists. Republicans 
ofaRepub- were dismissed from office; their journals were 

Iican Cham- J 

ber harassed and frequently suppressed; and their 

associations and meetings were put under strict surveil- 
lance. On December 31, 1875, the National Assembly, hav- 
ing completed the work of reorganizing France for which 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 231 

it was originally called, went out of existence. Elections 
were then held for the Chamber of Deputies, the popular 
House, and for the Senate. In spite of pressure applied by 
the Government on the electors to choose royalist members, 
the Chamber was overwhelmingly Republican; the Senate 
was monarchist only because one quarter of its member- 
ship had been appointed for life by the National Assembly 
before it dissolved. The situation in 1876 presented an 
anomaly: whereas the popular House was Republican, the 
upper House, the President, and the entire administration 
were royalist. This was bound to lead to a renewal of the 
struggle between the two forces in order that a more deci- 
sive result might be obtained. 

President MacMahon met the situation by a com- 
promise. He dismissed the royalist Broglie Cabinet and 
appointed one composed mainly of Republicans The mon- 
headed by Jules Simon, but he maintained that suftheRe- 
the Ministry was responsible to him and not to publicans 
the Chamber. The Republicans, on the contrary, held to 
the principle that the responsibility of Ministers was to 
Parliament, because the latter, having been elected by uni- 
versal suffrage, was, in the words of Gambetta, "the mas- 
ter of us all." The first three years of the new constitution 
are the critical period in the history of the Third French 
Republic. All political, social, and religious forces were lin- 
ing up for a trial of strength to decide whether France was 
to be a republic or a monarchy. Behind the royalists were 
the aristocratic classes, many of the peasants, the bureau- 
cracy, and the more wealthy of the middle class. Behind the 
Republicans were the lower middle class, the intellectuals, 
and the workingmen, who, swayed by the eloquence of Gam- 
betta, were determined that no king, be he reactionary or 
liberal, should ever again reign in France. 

The Catholic Church, too, entered the political fray. 
Many of the priests preached against the Re- The Church 
public and were active in aiding the royalists thymol? 
during the elections. A propaganda was also archists 
started to have France restore the temporal power of the 



232 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Pope, and petitions poured in from ardent Catholics ask- 
ing that the Government intervene in Italy for that pur- 
pose. France, in her crippled state after 1870, was neither 
able nor willing to make war on the Italy which it had helped 
to unite. So great was the activity of the Catholics on the 
royalist side that the Republicans, always unfriendly, now 
became bitterly hostile to the Church. Gambetta uttered 
a phrase which became their rallying cry, u Le clericalisme, 
voild Vennemi! " (" Clericalism! That is our enemy!") 

On May 16, 1877, the famous Seize Mai, President Mac- 
Mahon dismissed the Simon Ministry, although it was 
_ . supported by the Chamber, and, in defiance of 

Parliament, again appointed a royalist cabinet 
headed by the former Premier, Duke de Broglie. This ac- 
tion was denounced by the Republicans as a coup d'etat and 
an attempt by the President to inaugurate a system of 
"personal government." The reply of MacMahon was to 
dissolve the Chamber with the consent of the Senate and 
to order a new election. Both sides once more entered the 
political arena determined to fight with every weapon at 
their command. 

To preserve the "moral order," as the royalists called 
conservatism, the Government used every influence at 
^ . . . its command to elect a monarchist Chamber. 

Gambetta 

versus Mac- It resorted to "official candidates," gerryman- 
dering, and coercion of all sorts. To counteract 
this electioneering activity, the Republicans formed secret 
societies to help them in the campaign. Gambetta became 
the leading antagonist of President MacMahon. Again he 
went on one of his famous speaking tours to arouse the 
country against the monarchists and their methods. He was 
called, in derision, "the commercial traveler for the Repub- 
lic," an appellation which he himself adopted with pride. 
In one of his speeches he gave utterance to another famous 
phrase, which became the electoral cry of 1877. "When 
France has spoken in her sovereign voice," he told Mac- 
Mahon, "you will be forced to submit or to resign." "(II 
faudra se soumettre ou se demettre.") 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 233 

The Republicans won a complete triumph over their 
opponents. In the new Chamber they had a majority of 
over one hundred seats. MacMahon "sub- „ . 

Resignation 

mitted." He dismissed the Broglie Ministry and of Mac- 
appointed one headed by a conservative Re- a on 
publican, Dufaure. When, in 1878, an election for one third 
of the Senate was held, the Republicans succeeded in ob- 
taining a majority in the upper House also. They now 
determined to force MacMahon out of office. A demand 
was made by the Chamber that he dismiss certain royal- 
ist officials. This he refused to do, and on January 30, 
1879, he handed in his resignation. To succeed him the 
National Assembly chose Jules Grevy, a lifelong and faith- 
ful Republican, who declared that he would always re- 
cognize the Chamber as the supreme power in the Govern- 
ment. 

Unlike the Republics that were established in 1792 and 
1848, each of which came into existence on a wave of en- 
thusiasm, the Third Republic was founded as s . ... , 
a consequence of the mistaken tactics of the theThird Re- 
royalists, whose reactionary ideas, delays, and pu 
bickerings disgusted the country and inclined it to favor 
the advocates of the Republic, who were united, enthusi- 
astic, and able. Nevertheless, the Third French Republic 
has since proved to be the most stable government that 
France has known since the great Revolution. 

Government and Parties 

The Government of France may be best described as a 
parliamentary republic. Like that of the United States, 
it is republican in form; but, like that of Eng- - 
land, supreme power is lodged in a popularly centralized 
elected parliament, which passes laws and con- repu 
trols the cabinet which executes them. Unlike the United 
States, which is a federal union with a division of powers 
between the central and local governments, France is a 
highly centralized republic, most of the local as well as the 
whole of the national government being directed from Paris. 



234 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The country is divided into eighty-six departements , which 
are administrative divisions presided over by prefects, or 
governors, appointed by the central government. In each 
departement there are popularly elected councils, but their 
powers are largely advisory. A measure of local self-gov- 
ernment was given to the municipalities by the law of 1884; 
it permitted them to elect their mayors and councils, which 
exercise considerable power subject, however, to the author- 
ity of the prefect. 

The head of the French Republic is the President, who 
is elected for a term of seven years by the National As- 
The Presi- sembly, which is the name given to a joint ses- 
dent sion of both houses. Mindful of Louis Napo- 

leon's rise to power through popular election, the French 
constitution prescribes this mode of choosing a President 
and prohibits a member of a French royal or imperial 
family from being a candidate. The powers of the Pres- 
ident are limited in the extreme: every act of his must 
be countersigned by a cabinet minister; his veto may be 
overridden by a bare majority of Parliament; appoint- 
ments to office are made in his name by the cabinet. ; he may, 
with the consent of the Senate, dissolve the Chamber be- 
fore its term has expired, but since President MacMahon's 
famous dissolution in 1877 no French President has exer- 
cised this power. Frequently, however, his influence is felt 
in the composition of a cabinet. 

The real ruler of France is Parliament. The upper House, 
or Senate, consists of three hundred members 1 elected for 
a term of nine years. The Senators from each 
departement are chosen by an electoral college, 
consisting of delegates from the various local bodies and 
the members of the Chamber of Deputies elected from the 
departement. According to the constitution, the Senate has 
equal legislative authority with the Chamber; in reality, its 
main function is to act as a check on the popular House 

1 As originally provided in the constitution, one fourth were to be life 
Senators elected by the National Assembly; but an amendment, adopted in 
1884, abolished the life senatorships, though it permitted the Senators so 
chosen in 1875 to continue in office, 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 235 

by revising, amending, and sometimes, though rarely, de- 
feating its bills. 

The lower House, or Chamber of Deputies, consists of 
six hundred and two members elected by universal male 
suffrage for a term of four years. Like the Amer- The Cham- 
ican House of Representatives, the French ber 
Chamber lives out its full term of office for the reason re- 
ferred to above. Candidates are chosen from single-mem- 
ber districts called arrondissements, 1 and a candidate, to be 
elected, must receive a majority of all the votes cast. 2 The 
powers of the Chamber are like those of the British House 
of Commons. It passes laws and appoints the cabinet, 
which it may dismiss whenever it so chooses on the prin- 
ciple of ministerial responsibility. 

Although the French cabinet system is modeled on that 
of the British, its working has been quite different, because 
of the multiplicity of political parties, no one m _ , . 

r , • , , , , ... . „, The Cabinet 

01 which ever has had a majority in the Cham- 
ber. A cabinet is therefore composed of men belonging to 
various groups, and is supported in the Chamber by a coali- 
tion of these groups known as a bloc. Parliamentary coali- 
tions are often hard to keep together, particularly in France, 
where party ties are very loose ; cabinet crises are therefore 
of frequent occurrence. ^Ministries are constantly being 
overthrown, and rarely does a French Cabinet last as long 
as two years; often its life is only six months. As much 
energy is frequently expended in keeping the cabinet to- 
gether as in promoting legislation. A favorite method of 
upsetting a ministry is through an interpellation, by which 
is meant that any Deputy may direct questions and de- 
mand answers of a cabinet minister on the conduct of his 
office. An interpellation is, however, more often in the 
nature of a challenge than of a request for information; a 

1 In 1885, in response to Gambetta's urgent suggestion, a change was made 
and members were elected on a general ticket known as the scrutin de liste 
in each dcpartement. Later, in 1889, on account of the Boulanger affair, the 
single-member districts were restored. (See p. 242.) 

2 In case no candidate receives a majority on the first ballot, a second elec- 
tion is held two weeks later to determine the final choice. 



236 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

sharp debate ensues, frequently resulting in a vote of cen- 
sure for the cabinet, which then resigns. 

It must not, however, be supposed that the instability of 
cabinets means the instability of the Government. Below 
St bilit of ^ e P^ a y °^ f act i° na l politics flow steady political 
the French currents that continue in the same direction no 
overnment ma ^ter who is Prime Minister. The fall of a Min- 
istry means generally only the appointment of a new Prime 
Minister; the Chamber is not dissolved, and frequently the 
majority of the members in the succeeding Ministry are the 
same as those of its predecessor. A great though silent part 
in steadying the wheels of government is played by the 
bureaucracy. Since its reorganization by Napoleon, the 
highly centralized administrative system of France has con- 
tinued the practical work of administration in the spirit 
of its conservative traditions irrespective of what form of 
government is proclaimed in Paris. It has given continuity 
to the political life of France by absorbing the shocks of 
revolutions and coups d'etat and by remaining independent 
of cabinet changes. 

The French constitution adopted in 1875 still remains 
essentially an outline. It contains no statement of general 
The Consti- P r i nc ipl es > like the documents adopted during the 
tution an great Revolution, and no definite articles pro- 
tecting liberty, persons, and property like the 
Bill of Rights in the American constitution. Its only prohi- 
bition is in the article which declares that "the republican 
form of government shall not be made the subject of a pro- 
posed revision." Amendments can be made very easily; a 
proposal for an amendment may be made by the President 
or by a majority of either House; to pass, it must be rati- 
fied by a majority of the National Assembly. In other words, 
an ordinary statute and a constitutional amendment are 
adopted by the same persons. Besides, Parliament some- 
times passes bills as statutes which in America would be 
considered subjects for constitutional amendment, because 
the French constitution contains only general provisions for 
organizing the Government. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 237 

There are no political parties in France like those in Eng- 
land and in the United States. Instead of two compact, 
well-organized groups of electors with candidates, Political 
conventions, and platforms striving for the con- g rou P s 
trol of the Government, there are in France many loosely 
organized groups with certain political tendencies, royalist, 
moderate, radical, or socialist. Each candidate for public 
office is practically his own party; he writes his own plat- 
form, conducts his own campaign, and pays his own ex- 
penses, aided sometimes by hastily organized societies. 
After his election he seeks out other members of the Cham- 
ber who profess the same or similar views, and these con- 
stitute a "party." A party may be born at the opening of 
the parliamentary session and die before its close; often a 
Deputy belongs to more than one group or passes serenely 
from one to another. Political leaders, rather than political 
organizations, are the important factors in French parlia- 
mentary life, as nearly every group is dominated by a 
prominent politician whom it follows as long as he can 
lead. Newspapers, often owned and edited by prominent 
political leaders, are a most powerful factor in the formation 
of public opinion, which is easily evoked in a highly sensi- 
tive, artistic people like the French. A brilliant speech, a 
fine article, a penetrating book, will often do the work of 
party platforms and party organizations. 

The Deputies sit in the Chamber according to their opin- 
ions, the conservatives to the right and the radicals to the 
left of the president of the body. The Right is The 
composed of royalists and imperialists devoted to " Rl s ht 
the interests of the various pretenders to the French throne. 
These anti-republicans are elected most often in rural dis- 
tricts through the influence of the aristocracy and clergy. 
These groups at one time vowed open hostility to the Re- 
public; but as France became more republican in sentiment, 
and fewer monarchist Deputies were elected, the members 
of the Right dropped the name royalist and chose to call 
themselves Conservatives or Nationalists. An important 
offshoot of the royalists is a group which calls itself "The 



238 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Party of Liberal and Popular Action," composed of Catho- 
lics who are loyal to the Republic, which they desire to see 
the special protector of the Church and of the poor. 

Next to them sit the Moderate Republicans, sometimes 
called "Progressives," representing the interests of the 
The Moder- wealthy middle class who desire to keep the 
ates Republic as conservative as possible. They favor 

protection of the interests of peasant proprietors and are 
opposed to social legislation in favor of the working class 
and to attacks upon the rights of property. It is to the 
ideas of Thiers that the Moderates have looked for in- 
spiration. 

By far the most numerous group of the Left are the Radi- 
cals, who own Gambetta as their intellectual father. Uncom- 
The Radi- promising hostility to the Catholic Church, or 
cals anti-clericalism, is their leading principle; hence 

they have been the chief advocates of the separation of 
Church and State and of secular public education. The bulk 
of the bourgeoisie, as well as many of the intellectuals, are 
supporters of the Radicals, whose influence on the history of 
the Third Republic has been very great. 

Farther to the left sit the Socialist Radicals, who are in 
complete accord with the Radicals on the Church question, 
The Socialist and, in addition, demand social legislation in 
Radicals favor of the working class, such as old-age pen- 
sions, workingmen's compensation, social insurance, and the 
protection of women and children in industry. The re- 
cent experiments of the Republic in the field of social 
reform are almost entirely due to this group. 1 

At the extreme left sit the Socialists, elected mainly by 
the working class and advocating, like the Socialists of 
The Social- other countries, the establishment of a coopera- 
tive commonwealth. Socialism was slow to make 
headway under the Third Republic, partly because of the 
discredit cast upon it by the Commune and partly because 
of the numerous factional quarrels among its advocates. It 
was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that a 

1 See pp. 264 ff. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 239 

well-defined socialist party made its appearance through the 
founding, in 1 904, of the Unified Socialist Party, which quickly 
attracted considerable support among the French voters. 1 

Political History (1879-96) 

In spite of the great losses suffered during the Franco- 
Prussian War in life, property, and through business dis- 
turbance, in spite of the humiliating defeat, in Resurrection 
spite of bitter political and religious dissensions, of France 
France rapidly recovered her old-time vigor. Indeed, the 
national resurrection of France after 1870 is one of the amaz- 
ing chapters in the history of modern times. Europe, and 
particularly Germany, was astonished to see the nation that 
but yesterday was discredited, defeated, and dismembered, 
rise to her feet, bind up her wounds, and spring again to the 
fore. Once the Republic was firmly established, the country 
was able to see more clearly the path toward recovery and 
to follow it more firmly. 

Business enterprise was greatly encouraged, and the suc- 
cessful expositions of 1878 and 1889 were striking manifes- 
tations of France's economic prosperity. 2 A mag- National 
nificent series of fortresses was erected along the defense 
German frontier, notably at Verdun and at Belfort, to pro- 
tect the country against invasion. The army was provided 
with the latest equipment and organized along the most 
modern lines. In 1889 active military service was reduced 
from five to three years, but fewer exemptions were allowed. 
The proposals made by French diplomats for an alliance 
with Russia as a counterbalance to the Triple Alliance fin- 
ally proved successful and, in 1895, the Dual Alliance of 
France and Russia was definitely formed. 3 

To balance the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, France decided on 
a policy of colonial expansion regardless of ex- Colonial ex- 
pense and began the acquisition of a colonial P anslon 
empire in Africa. In the reign of Louis Philippe the con- 

1 For further description of French socialism, see pp. 591 ff. 

2 For a description of the economic development of France under the Third 
Republic, see pp. 244 ff. 

3 See p. 687. 



240 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

quest of Algeria had already begun, and during the Sec- 
ond Empire the Senegal Valley had been annexed. In 
1881 the Republic, under the leadership of Jules Ferry, ac- 
quired Tunis; later, in 1895, the large island of Madagas- 
car was made a protectorate of France. In Asia the Second 
Empire had assumed control of Cochin-China and Cam- 
bodia, and the Republic at this time acquired Anam and 
Tonkin. 1 

"It was the schoolmaster who triumphed at Sedan" was 
the common view in France in explanation of the defeat of 
A national 1870. The superiority of the Prussians was as- 
education signed to the fact that their national system of 
founded popular education had almost completely abol- 

ished illiteracy and so gave the mass of people a conscious 
and intelligent interest in the welfare of their country. Pop- 
ular education was then in a sad way in France ; schools were 
few and poorly equipped, hence illiteracy was common, 
especially in the rural districts. If democracy was to suc- 
ceed, argued the Republicans, all Frenchmen must be edu- 
cated to appreciate it, and then universal suffrage, "the 
master of us all," will favor progressive ideas and not be- 
come the means of reaction as under the Second Empire. 
The name most identified with educational reform in France 
is that of Jules Ferry, a vigorous and bold disciple of Gam- 
betta, who was in the Ministry almost continuously from 
1879 to 1885. As Minister of Education and as Prime Minis- 
ter, Ferry was an ardent advocate of a national system of 
popular education along secular lines. He was ably sec- 
onded by Ferdinand Buisson, the well-known French educa- 
tor, and by Paul Bert, a vehement anti-clerical Republican. 
An attack was made by the Government on Catholic influ- 
ence in the schools. The Falloux Law was virtually abro- 
gated by restoring the prescriptive right of the University to 
grant degrees, and by suppressing the "letter of obedience" 
as a certificate to teach. 2 A law, passed in 1886, forbade a 
member of any religious order to teach in the public schools, 
but a delay of ten years was allowed for a readjustment. 

1 See p. 660. 2 See p. 155. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 241 

Only lay teachers having a government diploma could now 
be appointed as teachers. Civic and moral instruction was 
substituted for religious, and the right of the parish priest 
to supervise the schools in his parish was withdrawn. The 
Ferry Laws of 1881-82 established for the first time a com- 
prehensive system of national education by requiring that it 
be compulsory, free, and secular. Normal schools for the 
training of teachers and secondary education for women, 
long neglected, were now greatly encouraged. Large sums 1 
were freely appropriated by the Government for the cause 
of popular education. Illiteracy disappeared rapidly, so 
that to-day it is practically non-existent. The creation of a 
national system of popular education is a great and enduring 
achievement of the Third Republic and gave its author, 
Ferry, his surest title to fame. 

Several political scandals took place which cast great dis- 
credit on the Republic and on the parliamentary system 

generally. It was discovered that a son-in-law of ~, , 

. . 1 he decora- 

President Grevy was using his influence for the tions scan- 
purpose of trafficking in the bestowal of decora- 
tions, especially in the greatly sought-for Legion of Honor. 
The President, although himself innocent, was forced to 
resign (1887), and Sadi Carnot, a descendant of the famous 
"organizer of victory" during the Revolution, was elected 
his successor. 

Far more serious was the Panama scandal. A company 
had been organized by Ferdinand de Lesseps to pierce the 
Isthmus of Panama, in which many Frenchmen The Panama 
had invested their hard-earned savings. In 1888 scandal 
the company went bankrupt, and a judicial investigation 
disclosed doubtful financial transactions in which officials 
high in the public service were implicated. Members of 
Parliament had been subsidized through presents of shares 
of stock and through payment of campaign expenses in 
return for government favors. Even Cabinet Ministers 
were implicated in this "Republican scandal," as it was 

1 In 1870 the education budget was $4,800,000, which rose in 1910 to 
$56,200,000. 



24a MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

termed by the monarchists, who charged that the Republic 
was in control ol u Panamaists," or "grafters." rhe ex- 
posure drove several prominent politicians into private life 

and some to suicide; ii was also responsible for a ie\ ival of 
royalism. 

A great deal of discontent was also aroused by the peace- 
ful policies of the rhird Republic. Its opponents charged 
Koviv.u of France with being recreant to the rfvanche, or 
UterwoNCM na (; on ai vengeance on Germany for the defeat 
of 1870, The v.\: , .Y/.Y idea became a sort of cult among some 
elements; and patriotic societies were organized to keep 
alive the bitter memories of the Franco-Prussian War and 
to spread a propaganda of hostility to Germany. On every 

possible occasion great demonstrations would take place 
around the statue erected to the Alsatian city of Strassburg 
in the Place de la Concorde, a great public square in Paris. 

Before long a man appeared who became the leading ex- 
ponent oi discontent with the Republic. He was General 
Genera) Boulanger, a handsome, dashing soldier who 

Boulanger made a brilliant figure riding on his black char- 
ger. Boulanger was made Minister of War in [886. He be- 
came very popular with, the army by constantly appealing 

to chauvinistic sentiments and by improving conditions tor 

the soldiers. 1 le entered politics and was repeatedly elected 
to the Chamber by enormous majorities. At every oppor- 
tunity he would present himself to the voters, at by-elec- 
tions, on second ballotings, and in several constituencies at 
the same time; in the year 1888 he was elected six times. 
The system of scrutin de listed then in vogue, gave him an 
excellent opportunity to test his popularity, as his followers 
in an entire dipartetnetti could concentrate on supporting 
him; this, in a way, constituted a plebiscite 1 oi the dc(\irtc- 
metU. What Boulanger definitely wanted was never made 
quite clear. In a general way he demanded a revision oi the 
Constitution in favor of a popularly elected president with 
great powers. This was the Republic of 1S4S all over again, 

and the Republicans feared that, if such a change were 

1 See p. 235. 



'! HE 'I HIRD f REN< if REPUBLK 243 

made, il would be followed by another coup d'Hat by this 
"man on horseback/' Boulangei managed to attracl 
an enormous following and his popularity was unbounded. 
Whenever he appeared in the streets crowds would follow 
him about, cheering enthusiastically and demanding that 
he be put al the head oi afTaii .. 

It soon became evident thai the General was merely a - 
tool in the hands oi those thai were hostile to the Republic. 
i [is ' ampaign wa 1 liberally finan< ed by royalists < oflap c 
and ably managed; popular journalists, among '/.',,', :';' . 
them Ro< heforl , be< ame his champions. In th< 
face oi this new danger to the Republic there tools ph 
on< '• more as in the days oi MacMahon, a " Republi< an < on 
centration ,f ; the various faction) cea ed their quarrels and 
united to defend the Governmenl against its enen 
Boulanger wai suddenly summoned for trial before the 
Senate, charged with conspiring againsl the State. Had he 
been a man oi the caliber oi the great Napoleon, <>r even of 
Louis Napoleon, he mighl have succeeded iri overturning 
the Republic by open defiance. Bui !■ a vain and 

empty show. His audacity vanished quickly, and \.<- fled 
the country ingloriously. He loon committed suicide. The 
entire Boulanger movemenl suddenly and completely col- 
lapsed. It resulted, however, in the abolition of the %criMn 
de Uste and the reestablishmenl oi single-member distr 
The general election oi 1889 was a great blow to the r<>-/- 
ali its, wrho losl about one half of their representatives in the 
Chamber. The Republ afe once more. 

But a new type of discontent, revolutionary radicalism, 
rapidly growing, as shown by the iiu rease in the number 
of Socialist voters and in violent deeds \>y anar- < , 
chists. In [894 President Carnot n- v ' A/: 

ated by an anarchist. As his successor the National 
sembly chose Casimir-Perier, who astonished <-.<ry 
by resigning within six months. In 1895 Felix Faure 
ele< U <\ President . 



244 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Economic Progress 

The industrial advance of the Third Republic has been 
most notable 1 in spite of the loss of Alsace-Lorraine with its 
French in- important textile centers and its rich iron de- 
dustnes posits. 2 France remains, however, largely an agri- 

cultural country; her industries are mainly in luxuries 
bought for their artistic qualities, such as millinery, laces, 
silks, gloves, perfumes, tapestries, automobiles, and delicate 
crockery. And it is highly improbable that she will ever 
become an economic rival of great industrial nations like 
England, Germany, or the United States, because of her 
limited resources in coal and iron. The mining regions are 
located entirely in the northeastern part of the country, and 
the loss of this region would mean that France would be 
hopelessly crippled industrially and consequently sink to a 
low rank among modern nations. 

Although the output of coal has greatly increased since 
1870, 3 France has to import fully one third of what she needs 
Coal and in order to have sufficient fuel. In the production 
iron Q f i ron anc i s teel 4 she has advanced to the fourth 

rank among nations, coming after the United States, Ger- 
many, and England. The production of steel was greatly 
facilitated by the invention of the Thomas process, which 
made the departement of Meurthe-et-Moselle one of the chief 
steel-producing regions of the world. In the great steel 
works at Le Creuzot, France possesses an important rival 
to that of the Krupps in Germany. 

The silk industry is as distinctly French as the cotton in- 
dustry is English. Lately, however, there has been a marked 
depression in this notable French industry owing 
to the destruction of the silkworms by disease 
and to the increasing competition of Italy; Milan has suc- 
ceeded Lyons as the silk capital of Europe. 

1 In 1 87 1 the total horse-power of engines used in industry was 316,000; 
in 1907 it was 2,474,000. 

2 See p. 300. 

3 The production of coal and lignite in 1871 was about 14,600,000 tons; in 
1912 it was 45,500,000 tons. 

4 In 1871 the iron output was 2,000,000 tons; in 1912 it was 21,000,000 tons. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 245 

A most important factor in the economic life of France is 
the production of wines, liqueurs, and brandies. The vine 
which once spread over the greater part of „.. 

1 r- 1 Wine 

France, is now almost entirely confined to the 
South, where large areas are given over to its cultivation. 
During the latter part of the nineteenth century, this highly 
lucrative industry was almost ruined by the spread of a 
vine disease, the phylloxera, which caused the production 
of wine to sink to one third of what it had been in previous 
years. 1 To combat this evil, strong efforts were made by 
the wine-growers, many of whom were now reduced to pen- 
ury; American vine stock was grafted upon the native 
French, and scientific cures discovered by the great scientist, 
Pasteur, were applied. Through these efforts the industry 
began slowly to improve, but it has never recovered its 
former prosperity. 2 Another attack on the wine industry 
came in the form of competition of adulterated wines which 
were manufactured and sold at cheap rates. 

Transport facilities under the Republic were greatly im- 
proved and extended. 3 An important step toward the na- 
tionalization of the railways was taken in 1909 Transpor- 
when the entire Western Railway system (about tatlon 
thirty-seven hundred miles) was taken over by the Govern- 
ment. It was expected that by about 1950 or i960, when the 
charters of the other companies will have expired, all the 
French railways will be under government ownership and 
operation. French shipping has been slow in developing in 
spite of government subsidies. 4 The merchant marine of 
France is very small as compared with that of England or 
Germany and is largely engaged in Mediterranean and coast 
trade. The only marked increase has been in the tonnage of 
steam vessels, which, in 1872, was only twelve per cent of 
the entire tonnage, but which rose to sixty per cent in 1908. 

1 In 1875 the wine product of France amounted to 2,214,000,000 gallons; 
in 1895 it had sunk to about 737,000,000 gallons. 

2 In 1912 the wine production was about 1,306,448,000 gallons. 

3 In 191 1 there were 31,056 miles of railway, which was more than three 
times as much as in 1870. 

4 In 1872 the merchant marine amounted to 1,089,000 tons and in 1908 it 
amounted to only 1,453,000 tons. 



246 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

In the Treaty of Frankfort Germany imposed upon 
France "a most favored natidn clause," according to which 
The new each was to give to the other all the tariff priv- 
tanff ileges that she gave to the most favored nation. 

This clause was denounced in France as an "industrial 
Sedan," for it was regarded as an effort by Germany to 
restrict French foreign trade. In 1890 the Chamber of 
Deputies refused to renew this arrangement and prepared 
completely to revise the tariff system. A new tariff law was 
passed in 1892, which abandoned the free-trade policy in- 
augurated by Napoleon III and established high protective 
duties on industrial and agricultural products. The new law 
also gave the French Government freedom to follow any 
tariff policy that it chose toward any country, by providing 
for maximum and minimum duties to be applied at its 
discretion. The foreign trade of France has been steadily 
increasing, 1 the imports being generally somewhat in excess 
of the exports. France sells expensive wares to foreign na- 
tions and in return buys cheap commodities, largely such 
raw materials as wool, cotton, and coal. Her trade is princi- 
pally with Great Britain, the United States, and Germany. 

Of prime importance for the welfare of the country are 
the banking institutions which invest the savings of millions 
of thrifty Frenchmen in industrial enterprises 
and governmental loans, abroad as well as at 
home. More than once has the "woolen stocking" of the 
French peasant played a great role in international affairs; 
it was largely responsible for the quick payment of the in- 
demnity to Germany and for the enormous loans to the 
Russian Government in order to secure the latter as an 
ally. 2 France is the banker of the world and the land of 
financial stability, as there is little or no speculation of the 
"sky-rocketing" type. Investments are made generally in 
business enterprises that are soundly organized and amply 
protected from failure. The French banks are the channels 

1 In 1912 the total foreign trade, exclusive of precious metals, was valued at 
about $3,723,000,000, which was three times as much as that in 1870. 

2 In 1908 French investments in foreign securities were estimated at about 
seven and a half billions of dollars. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 247 

through which the surplus capital of the country finds an 
outlet; they are carefully supervised and controlled by the 
Government in order to safeguard the savings of the people. 
A favorite form of French investment at home is in govern- 
ment bonds, or rentes; many a peasant, small shopkeeper, 
or laborer, possesses a rente of which he is very proud. 
This form of popular finance has been encouraged by the 
Republic for the reason that it gives millions of citizens an 
economic interest in the stability of the existing Government, 
and so helps to discourage both revolution and reaction. 

As has already been stated, France is still largely an 
agricultural country; fully one half of the population de- 
pends upon the soil for its livelihood. France is Peasant pro- 
the land of the small peasant proprietor in con- P netorshl P 
trast to Great Britain, the home of the great landowner. 
But she is not quite the agricultural paradise that has been 
so often painted by enthusiastic foreigners. While it is per- 
fectly true that the overwhelming majority of the agricul- 
tural population are proprietors of their lands, the farms 
that they own are very small ; by far the greater portion of 
the arable land is in the hands of those who in France are 
considered large proprietors. Frequently large estates are 
cultivated according to a curious system called metayage: 
the owner of the land provides the buildings, animals, and 
the machinery, and the peasant, the labor, both sharing the 
product. 

In spite of hard labor, rigid economy, and the natural 
fertility of the French soil, the peasant finds it difficult to 
live from his little farm. There has grown up a Backward- 
kind of proletarian proprietor who is often only prench agri- 
too happy to sell his farm and to crowd into the culture 
city. The French peasant is backward in his methods of 
farming; he has been slow to introduce scientific methods, 
and in many places the scythe, sickle, and flail are still used 
instead of modern agricultural machinery. 

It is the universal opinion in France that the small pro- 
prietor is the backbone of the nation's economic life and 
that his ruin would spell the ruin of the country. As France 



248 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cannot expect to become highly industrialized, great con- 
cern has been felt for the condition of the peasants. Farm- 
ers' cooperative societies have been formed, and scientific 
agriculture has been encouraged in every way. Provision 
was made by the laws of 1908 and 1910 for government 
loans to small landowners at low interest rates in order to 
encourage them to enlarge and to improve their holdings. 

The law of inheritance, established by the French Revolu- 
tion, compels the equal division of the land among the heirs, 
The law of an< ^ ^ as been partly responsible for the division 
equal in- of the land into farms too small to provide an 
adequate living for a family. To avoid this, some 
of the heirs frequently sell their holdings to the others or 
take as their share the movable property of the estate. In 
order to prevent the continued partition of the holdings, a 
movement has been started in favor of "liberty of bequest," 
but it has not progressed very far, as the French fear that it 
might lead to primogeniture 1 and the return of aristocracy. 
To protect the peasant against his own mistakes, a law was 
passed in 1909 which limited the right of seizure and of pub- 
lic sale of small farms by those who have financial claims 
upon them. 

The Dreyfus Affair 

Toward the end of the nineteenth century occurred the 
famous Dreyfus Affair which, for ten years, convulsed 
~ , France and attracted the liveliest attention the 

Condemna- 
tion of Cap- world over. In 1894 Alfred Dreyfus, a captain of 
rey us art jjj er y attached to the General Staff, was ar- 
rested on the charge of having betrayed his country by sell- 
ing important military secrets. The court-martial, com- 
posed of his fellow officers, found him guilty and sentenced 
him to expulsion from the army and to imprisonment for 
life. As a warning to all other traitors, the culprit was pub- 
licly and dramatically degraded. He was marched into the 
courtyard of the military school in Paris, the stripes were 
torn from his uniform, his sword was broken, and he was 

1 The right of the eldest son to inherit the entire landed estate of the father. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 249 

marched out branded as a degraded, despised traitor. 
Throughout this dramatic scene Captain Dreyfus passion- 
ately asserted his innocence and his love for France; but 
no attention was paid to him. He was sent to Devil's 
Island, a penal settlement near French Guiana in South 
America, where he was to serve his life sentence in the 
fearful heat of the tropics. Although the trial had been 
conducted in great secrecy and with unusual harshness, the 
judgment met with universal approval in France. Treason 
has been universally considered as the lowest depth of moral 
turpitude, to be severely punished. And for an officer of 
the army to betray his country! 

There was another element in the situation. Dreyfus 
was an Alsatian Jew whose family had left Alsace after the 
Franco-Prussian War in order to live in France. Anti-Semit- 
For some years an anti-Semitic feeling had been lsm 
developing, the reason for which may be traced to the fact 
that several Jewish bankers had been implicated in the 
Panama scandal, and to the current belief that the Jews 
formed an international financial clique which was working 
in the interests of Germany and to the detriment of France. 
A vigorous anti-Semitic propaganda was launched by an 
able journalist named Edouard Drumont, who secured a 
large popular following through his paper La Libre Parole 
{Free S-peech). Drumont constantly repeated the charge 
that the Republic was being dominated by Jewish capital- 
ists who secretly controlled the politicians through corrupt 
means, and so dictated the policies of France. Prejudice 
against Dreyfus because he was a Jew helped materially to 
confirm the already popular opinion that he had been justly 
condemned. 

The trial and condemnation of Dreyfus had almost disap- 
peared from public view when the case was unexpectedly 
and dramatically reopened in 1896. Colonel Pic- Colonel 
quart, a rising young officer, had been appointed Plcc i uart 
Chief of the Intelligence Bureau, the department of the 
army in which military secrets are guarded. There he found 
the bordereau, a document containing the list of military 



250 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

secrets which, it was charged, had been sold to the enemy and 
which, the judges declared, was in the handwriting of Drey- 
fus. Although it was without date, address, or signature, 
this paper had been the most important evidence presented 
against the condemned man. Colonel Picquart had himself 
believed in the guilt of Dreyfus, but, on examining the bor- 
dereau, he came to the conclusion that it was not in the 
handwriting of the latter, but in that of Major Esterhazy, 
an officer well known in the army as a dissolute spendthrift. 
He naturally imparted this discovery to his superiors, 
General Boisdeffre, Chief of the General Staff, and Gen- 
eral Billot, Minister of War, to whom he communicated 
his conviction that Dreyfus was the victim of a judicial 
error and that Esterhazy was the real culprit. Colonel 
Picquart was then told by his superiors that Dreyfus was 
guilty, even if Esterhazy also was, because the bordereau 
had been supported by the additional evidence of a se- 
cret dossier, another mysterious document known only to 
the judges of the trial; and he was implored to drop the 
matter, as a revival of the case would reflect "on the honor 
of the army." Picquart now became thoroughly convinced 
that Dreyfus was the victim, not of a judicial error, but of a 
military conspiracy, and he began an agitation for a revision 
of the case. He found himself suddenly removed from the 
position of Chief of the Intelligence Department, and trans- 
ferred to a military station in Tunis. In his place was ap- 
pointed Colonel Henry, an officer high in the confidence of 
the General Staff. 

By this time great interest in the case was aroused in 
France. The element of mystery, the possible innocence of 
The Drey- one condemned to so cruel a punishment, the 
theanti- " ^ ear °f f° re ig n complications, all led the sensitive 
Dreyfusards French to take sides either for or against the 
prisoner on Devil's Island. The overwhelming majority of 
the people were anti-Dreyfusards, and they denounced the 
Dreyfusards as enemies of their country and as vilifiers of 
the army whose honor they continually invoked. Since the 
introduction of military conscription, the army had become 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 251 

more popular than ever; it was to be the means some day of 
wiping out the stain of 1870 through a victorious war with 
Germany. Naturally enough it became the object of pas- 
sionate devotion and unreasoning confidence. To question 
its verdict, "for the sake of a Jew accused of treason," 
seemed to many Frenchmen the height of anti-patriotism. 

Before long, the Affair entered politics. A new party, 
called the Nationalists, was organized by the anti-Drey- 
fusards. It attracted elements that greatly dis- R ,. 
quieted the Republicans. It was noticed that oppose 
monarchists, clericals, former followers of Bou- rey us 
langer, and reactionaries of various types became vociferous 
champions "of the honor of the army" and flocked to the 
standard of the Nationalists. The Church, too, took an 
active part on the side of the anti-Dreyfusards. A daily 
paper, La Croix {The Cross), published by an order of monks, 
led in the attack on Dreyfus and on the Jews generally. 

On the side of Dreyfus was a small minority consisting 
mainly of intellectuals, writers, professors, and artists. 
They believed he was innocent and that his con- intellectuals 
viction was a stain on their country; they also fj^ favor 
believed that the revival of militarism, which Dreyfus 
was taking place, would lead to the path of royalism and 
reaction, and that the Republic, in order to save itself, must 
vindicate Dreyfus by revising the case. Other Dreyfusard 
champions were the Socialists, who at first refused to inter- 
est themselves in the Affair, regarding it merely as "a 
squabble among the bourgeoisie" ; but later, under the lead- 
ership of Jean Jaures, they became the most doughty de- 
fenders of the condemned captain and materially aided in 
bringing about his vindication. 

Dreyfus came of a wealthy and influential family, who 
devoted all their energy and means in a zealous propaganda 
to rehabilitate him. Bernard Lazare, a French Scheurer- 
Jew and friend of the family, set himself to the Kestner 

, 1 1 champions 

task 01 unraveling the mystery, and he became cause of 
the leading opponent of the General Staff in the Dre y fus 
struggle over the intricacies of the case. By far the leading 



252 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

figure among the Dreyfusards was Colonel Picquart, whose 
burning zeal for justice, daring courage, and exact knowl- 
edge of the situation made a profound impression on his 
fellow countrymen, and caused many seriously to doubt the 
guilt of Dreyfus. The only Dreyfusard member of Parlia- 
ment was the Vice-President of the Senate, Scheurer-Kest- 
ner, a former Alsatian and a man universally respected and 
admired. He had become convinced of the innocence of the 
Captain after a careful study of the case, and he requested 
that the prisoner be given a new trial. In reply Prime Min- 
ister Meline declared that a reconsideration of the case 
would not be entertained because it was une chose jugee (a 
closed incident), and refused to grant the request. Pres- 
ident Faure, as well as the Prime Minister, was known to 
be against Dreyfus. 

The culmination of the triumph of the anti-Dreyfusards 
was the exoneration of Major Esterhazy, accused by Colonel 
Tri j Picquart of being the true author of the bor- 

of Major dereau. He was tried by a military court and 

Esterhazy • , ■ , , j • • ,« 

unanimously acquitted, receiving an enthusi- 
astic ovation as he left the courtroom. Picquart was then 
seized and imprisoned. Following his acquittal the Cham- 
ber of Deputies passed a resolution condemning the Drey- 
fus agitators for conducting "an odious campaign" which 
was distracting the country. 

On January 13, 1898, a new champion of the condemned 
captain appeared in the person of the famous novelist, 
Emile Zola. On that day he wrote an open letter, 
entitled J 'accuse, to the President of the Repub- 
lic, which was published in the Parisian journal, L'Aurore. 
Zola boldly charged Generals Mercier, Gonse, and Bois- 
deffre and their tools in the army with being in league with 
forgers and conspirators; he accused the Dreyfus judges 
with deliberately and knowingly condemning an innocent 
man; and he denounced their verdict as "a crime of high 
treason against humanity." Zola's letter was a bombshell 
thrown into the ranks of the anti-Dreyfusards and caused a 
tremendous sensation; for this he was prosecuted by the 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 253 

Government on the charge of defamation. The trial of the 
novelist attracted so much attention that, for a time, the 
Zola Affair threatened to obscure the Dreyfus Affair. He 
was found guilty and given the maximum penalty of one 
year's imprisonment, but he fled from France to avoid the 
sentence. 

In the elections of 1898 for the Chamber, not a single 
Dreyfusard was elected. Godfrey Cavaignac, a leading Na- 
tionalist and violent anti-Dreyfusard, was made _ 

n/r- • * rtT • 1 1 • ,T-.. Cavaignac 

Minister 01 War in the newly constituted Bnsson 
Ministry. This Cabinet now proposed to settle the Dreyfus 
controversy once for all. In a carefully prepared address, 
Cavaignac announced that he had examined all the docu- 
ments relating to the case, and that, even omitting the much 
discussed bordereau, Dreyfus had been justly condemned, 
for his guilt rested on three other documents which he 
named. So convincing was the speech of the Minister of 
War that the Chamber voted its affichage, 1 in order that all 
France might read it and also be convinced. The Dreyfus 
case was once more "closed." 

But the more it was closed, the more it was opened. 
Immediately Colonel Picquart came forward and caused 
another commotion by declaring that two of the ~ , . 

J ° Confession 

three documents cited by the Minister of War of Colonel 
bore no relation to the case, and that the third enry 
was a forgery. He offered to prove his statement and was 
promptly arrested. Shortly afterwards the public was 
greatly disturbed by the suicide of Colonel Henry, after he 
had made a confession that in the interest of his country 
he had forged the document referred to by Picquart. The 
country was again startled by the news that Esterhazy had 
confessed to being the author of the bordereau and had fled 
to England. The anti-Dreyfusards defended themselves by 
saying that the guilt of Esterhazy did not prove the inno- 
cence of Dreyfus. 

But a suspicion was growing among the French people 

1 It is the custom of the French Parliament to have notable speeches posted 
on all public bulletin boards in the country. 



254 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

that they were being duped by the leaders of the army in 
Dreyfus's order to shield forgers and conspirators. The 
second trial vear jgg^ marked the turning ofthe tide in favor 
of Dreyfus. President Faure died suddenly and mysteri- 
ously, and the new President, Emile Loubet, was known to 
favor a revision of the case. A new Ministry was formed by 
Waldeck-Rousseau, which determined to get at the bottom 
of the whole affair. The supreme court of France, the Cour 
de Cassation, ordered a new trial for Dreyfus, and the pris- 
oner of Devil's Island was brought back to France. At 
Rennes, a town in Brittany, he again faced a court of mili- 
tary judges who were bitterly hostile to him and who were 
determined to find him guilty under all circumstances. At 
the second trial the judges were almost as unfair as at the 
first, for they admitted evidence against the prisoner and 
excluded evidence favorable to him. He was again found 
guilty of treason, but this time, under "extenuating cir- 
cumstances," and he was sentenced to ten years' imprison- 
ment, from which the five years spent on Devil's Island 
were to be deducted. But the sentence was not executed, 
for President Loubet pardoned the prisoner. 

This decision, however, satisfied neither side. Dreyfus 
declared that as he was entirely innocent he did not wish to 
Exoneration be pardoned, for a pardon carried with it the 
of Dreyfus stigma of guilt. What he demanded was complete 
exoneration. The anti-Dreyfusards were in a rage. They 
denounced the Government as a dishonor to France and as 
having sold out to the Jews. President Loubet was publicly 
insulted and even physical violence was offered him. Street 
riots between the two factions were of common occurrence, 
but quiet was restored in 1900 by a grant of amnesty to all 
those implicated in the Affair, whether on one side or the 
other. In 1906 the Cour de Cassation revised the case itself, 
and the complete exoneration of Dreyfus was the result. He 
was declared wholly innocent of any act of treason, for the 
evidence against him had proved to be rank forgeries and 
outrageous lies. Esterhazy was found guilty of being the 
author of the bordereau. Like the stones in popular novels, 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 255 

all the heroes were rewarded and all the villains were pun- 
ished. Dreyfus was restored to the army and promoted in 
rank. In the very courtyard where he had once been de- 
graded, he was now given the decoration of the Legion of 
Honor. Colonel Picquart became a General and later Minis- 
ter of War. Zola having died before the Affair was com- 
pletely closed, his remains were buried with great pomp 
in the Pantheon, the Westminster Abbey of France. The 
honor of the French army was vindicated by the degrada- 
tion or dismissal of the officers concerned in the conspiracy 
against Dreyfus. 

Superficially the Dreyfus case had the appearance of a 
detective story on a national scale, but it really marked 
an important epoch in the history of the Third T 

. Importance 

Republic. Although the latter was brought into of the Drey- 
existence mainly through the efforts of the rad- 
ical Gambetta, it had been governed in the spirit of the 
conservative Thiers. Only when attacked, as in the Bou- 
langer affair, did the Republic defend itself; otherwise it 
made no aggressive move against the royalists, as did the 
First Republic of the Revolution. In foreign affairs the Re- 
public pursued a cautious and defensive policy, sometimes 
at the price of national humiliation, for it feared a victory 
almost as much as a defeat. A disastrous war would surely 
bring to an end the Third Republic as it had the Second 
Empire; a victorious war might bring to the fore another 
"man on horseback" to plot against its welfare. Because 
of this peaceful policy the royalists denounced republican- 
ism as cowardly and as false to the idea of the revanche. 

Royalism had rapidly declined since 1879. Royalist mem- 
bers of Parliament were steadily diminishing in number, 
and royalist officials were being gradually elimi- The al _ 
nated from the administration. Only one insti- ists and 
tution, and that the most popular one, the army, 
upon whose support all classes of Frenchmen were united, 
was still royalist. This was largely due to the fact that most 
of the higher officers came from conservative classes and 
had received their early education under conservative influ- 



256 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ences. Officers known to be Republicans were discriminated 
against by their superiors; promotion was denied them; and 
they were assigned to onerous duties. In the army, there- 
fore, lay the one hope of the royalists, for they believed that 
at a propitious moment it would overthrow the Third Re- 
public as it had the First and Second. 

This situation was clearly revealed by the Dreyfus Affair, 
and all Republican factions united to wage war against 
The Repub- royalism. A coalition, known as the bloc, was 
hcan bloc formed in the Chamber, composed of all types 
of Republicans, Moderate, Radical, and Socialist, which 
pledged itself to support the " Cabinet of Republican De- 
fense," organized in 1899 by Premier Waldeck- Rousseau. 
For the first time a Socialist, Alexandre Millerand, was in- 
cluded in the Ministry. The Cabinet declared its readiness 
"to defend energetically republican institutions," and "to 
put an end to all agitations the object of which, it is easily 
seen, is against the system of government consecrated by 
universal suffrage." A noteworthy group of new statesmen 
arose to face the situation, Waldeck- Rousseau, Aristide 
Briand, Georges Clemenceau, Rene Viviani, and Emile 
Combes. The policies of the bloc, which may be summed up 
as anti-clericalism and social reform, have been the policies 
of successive ministries down to the outbreak of the World 
War in 1914. 

The revision of the Dreyfus case by the civil Cour de 
Cassation and the quashing of the verdicts of two military 
Th , tribunals plainly showed the supremacy of the 
licanization civil over the military power in France. The 
e army arm y was CO mpelled humbly to acknowledge its 
subordinate position in the Republic, in which militarism 
could have no place. A policy of ruthless republicanization 
was now determined upon. Through a system of spying, 
which, however, was not long tolerated, officers discovered 
to be royalists were cashiered or discriminated against, and 
favors were shown to Republicans only. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 257 

Suppression of the Congregations 

Whenever a republic was established in France, the re- 
lations between Church and State immediately became 
strained. The Church always felt that a mon- T , c , , 
archy, whether royal or imperial, would be a and the 
friendly protector, and that a republic would be 
a bitter enemy. Neither the Republicans nor the Catholics 
had ever forgotten the French Revolution, which had made 
so violent an attack upon the Church; the former, inspired 
by the ideals of the Revolution, were anti-clerical; and the 
latter, fearing persecution, were hostile to the establishment 
of a republic. "Between the Revolution and the Church," 
declared Count Albert de Mun, a prominent French Cath- 
olic, "there can be no. compromise. Either the Church will 
destroy the Revolution or the Revolution will destroy the 
Church. We recognize the incompatibility, but we do not 
fear the dilemma, for the victor is preordained. The Church 
will demolish the Revolution, because the Church cannot 
ever fail." 

The Church, therefore, regarded the establishment of the 
Third Republic with a great deal of anxiety and, as we have 
already seen, she was very active in opposing its Hostility 
formation. From that time on, the Republicans, °biic to the 
inspired by Gambetta's warning cry, watched Church 
the Church with an unfriendly eye. Although the Concordat 
of 1 80 1 was maintained, there was much friction, and it was 
often violated in spirit by both sides. The annual stipend 
of about a million and a half dollars was not only too small 
for the needs of the Church, but it was always voted most 
grudgingly. The Ministry of Public Worship, generally oc- 
cupied by an anti-clerical, administered the affairs of the 
Church in a manner quite unfriendly to the latter. Never- 
theless, both parties favored the maintenance of the Con- 
cordat. The Church favored it because of the great prestige 
which it gave her and because of the assured, if small, in- 
come from the State. Many of the anti-clericals favored its 
maintenance because they feared "an armed church in an 



258 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

unarmed state"; by this they meant to imply that the 

Church would be far more dangerous to the Republic if 

freed from supervision and control by the State, as provided 

for by the Concordat. 

In 1892 Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical criticizing 

the royalist tendencies of the French Catholics. He de- 

„ T clared that the Church was committed to no 

Pope Leo 

recognizes particular form of government, and that, as 
t e epu ic g OOC j citizens, they should accept the Republic 
which was now firmly established; for by doing so they 
could exert a mollifying influence on the anti-clericalism of 
the Government. A section of the French Catholics followed 
the Pope's advice and "rallied" to the Republic, forming 
a. group in the Chamber known as the Raillies; but the gen- 
eral feeling in the Church continued hostile to the Republic 
to such an extent that "Catholic" and "royalist" became 
synonymous terms in France. 

In the Dreyfus Affair, many of the Catholic clergy 
joined the royalists in opposing a revision of the case. As 
The Congre- we have seen, the Republicans saw in the atti- 
gations tude of the royalists and their clerical allies an- 

other attempt on the life of the Republic; and this, more 
than anything else, disposed them to regard Dreyfus as 
innocent. The Waldeck- Rousseau Ministry, backed by the 
Republican bloc in the Chamber, determined on an aggres- 
sive anti-clerical policy. The first attack was made on the 
Congregations, or orders of monks and nuns. These socie- 
ties had so grown in numbers and in wealth since the estab- 
lishment of the Concordat that in 1900 they had nearly 
190,000 members and property valued at about a quarter 
of a billion dollars. It had been the custom for a Congre- 
gation to seek "authorization," or incorporation, from the 
Government, which gave it the special protection of an 
incorporated body. But on the establishment of the Third 
Republic many orders, fearing to give detailed informa- 
tion of their affairs to their enemies in the Government, de- 
cided to remain "unauthorized," but under the protection 
of the general laws. By 1900 the number of unauthorized 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 259 

religious communities greatly outnumbered the authorized 
ones. 

Most of the Congregations were engaged in the work of 
education and charity. By the side of the "lay schools" 
established by Jules Ferry, there had grown up Waldeck- 
a rival school system conducted by the orders. a nd the " 
This greatly disturbed the Republicans, who Church 
charged that the religious schools were permeated by royal- 
ist ideals. Premier Waldeck-Rousseau delivered an address 
in 1900 which profoundly influenced public opinion through- 
out France. He declared that the moral unity of the people 
was being undermined by rival systems of education which 
artificially perpetuated the divisions caused by the French 
Revolution: one system, that of the public schools, was in- 
spired by the democratic and republican ideals of the Revo- 
lution, and the other, that of the Church, was inspired by 
those of the ancien regime. This, he declared, was an intol- 
erable situation, and the State, in order to secure its suprem- 
acy, was bound to establish a more rational and efficient 
relation between itself and the Church by limiting the rights 
of religious associations. 

In 1 90 1 Parliament passed the famous Associations Law. 
This act required all Congregations to be authorized : those 
unauthorized must immediately apply to Parlia- The Associa- 
ment for this legal sanction on the pain of being tl0ns Law 
dissolved and their property seized by the Government for 
charitable purposes. The enforcement of the law was en- 
trusted to Emile Combes, who in 1902 succeeded Waldeck- 
Rousseau as Prime Minister. Premier Combes, an extreme 
anti-clerical, was determined to apply the law in the most 
drastic manner possible. The orders that refused to seek 
authorization were immediately suppressed ; those that did 
apply were refused authorization on the ground that they 
were not socially necessary and were also suppressed. Com- 
paratively few were permitted to continue their corporate 
existence. Thousands of monks and nuns found themselves 
homeless and destitute, for the Government had seized their 
convents and their property. Many of them left France for 



26o MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

other lands and many more took up ordinary occupations 
to gain a livelihood. The Government was especially se- 
vere on the teaching orders, because the Combes Ministry 
was firmly convinced that the educational system of the 
Congregations was incompatible with the ideals of the 
French Republic. In 1904 a new law forbade all teaching 
of whatever grade by Congregations, whether authorized 
or not ; and it ordered all schools conducted by them closed 
within ten years, or "secularized," that is, put under lay 
management. Thousands of schools conducted by the or- 
ders were then summarily closed by the Government. 

Separation of Church and State 

The stringent laws directed against the Congregations 
were only preliminary to what is undoubtedly the most 
Separation important act of the Third Republic, the law 
progrTm of separating Church and State. Many Republi- 
the Left cans had become converted to the doctrine of 
Vetat late, or the absolute independence of the State of all 
religious dogmas and its supremacy over every religious de- 
nomination; hence separation was the leading feature of 
the program of nearly every Republican group. The elec- 
tions of 1902 resulted in a large and solid anti-clerical ma- 
jority in the Chamber, and Premier Combes felt that the 
time was now ripe for the momentous step. 

What was needed was an "incident" to bring the ques- 
tion immediately to the fore. This came in 1904, when 
Pope Pius X President Loubet went to Rome to visit Victor 
protests Emmanuel III, King of Italy. Pope Pius X, who 

against visit ' ° J ^ » 

of President had succeeded Leo XIII in 1903, sent an indig- 
t h e U King of nant letter of protest to all the Catholic Powers, 
Italy denouncing President Loubet's visit as " a grave 

offense to the Sovereign Pontiff," because he was honoring 
a dynasty which had despoiled the Papacy of its domains. 
The French became indignant at what they regarded as an 
unwarrantable interference with their conduct of foreign 
affairs by the Pope and his Secretary of State, Cardinal 
Merry del Val. A diplomatic crisis arose between France 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 261 

and the Vatican. The French Ambassador to the Papal See 
was recalled and the Papal Nuncio was expelled from Paris. 

The opportunity for separating Church and State had 
now arrived and the anti-clericals were quick to take advan- 
tage of it. A drastic separation law was framed 
by Premier Combes which, however, failed to of Church 
pass. He resigned and was succeeded by Premier and State 
Rouvier. A committee had been appointed by the Chamber 
in 1903 to study the question and to draft a law. This com- 
mittee now submitted a bill which was largely the work of 
Aristide Briand, a brilliant young Socialist Radical who was 
rapidly rising in French politics. It was the intention of 
Briand to make the separation as mild as possible; with 
this in view he introduced several features which permitted 
a gradual dissolution of the bonds which united Church 
and State. The bill became law on December 9, 1905. 

This famous law abrogated the Concordat, and declared 
that the Republic neither recognizes nor subsidizes any 
form of religion; the budget for the hitherto Provisions 
established faiths, Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, of the law 
and Jewish, 1 was suppressed. Salaries were no longer to be 
paid to the clergy by the State, but a graded system of state 
pensions for priests already in the service was adopted, 
based upon age, length of service, and character of the 
parish. The Church was to govern itself absolutely with- 
out interference by the State. An inventory was to be 
made by the latter of all church property, which was then 
to be turned over to associations cultuelles, or societies, for 
public worship, to be formed by the Church in accordance 
with her principles. The amount of property these bodies 
could receive as gifts and legacies was limited by law be- 
cause, as Briand declared, the living, not the dead, should 
support the Church. Seminaries, bishops' residences, and 
parsonages were to be left in their present hands, for a 
limited period, after which they were to be taken over by 
the Government. Church buildings were placed in charge 

1 Prior to the passage of the law of 1905, other faiths besides the Catholic 
were subsidized by the Government. 



262 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of the association cultuelles; but if these were not to be 
formed by a certain date, the law made the buildings the 
property of the State. 

The Separation Law was the occasion of a series of de- 
bates in which the general principles of religious polity, as 
Briand's well as the law itself, were brilliantly discussed, 
views as befitted the seriousness of a procedure which 

terminated a system that had flourished for fully fifteen 
hundred years. Briand was the leading protagonist of the 
law. He declared himself opposed to extreme anti-clerical- 
ism which sought to frame a measure calculated to disrupt 
the Church. In his opinion the "State must remain neutral 
in respect to all religions. It is not anti-religious, for it has 
not the right to be so; it is merely non-religious" ; therefore, 
it was his intention not to persecute the Catholics, but to 
carry out the law in a most friendly and conciliatory spirit. 

The opposition was led by Count de Mun, who declared 
that he was opposed to the separation of Church and State 
Count de in general and especially in France, where the 
Mun's views history, customs, and temperament of the people 
favored the ideal of a union between civil and religious life ; 
that the law was inspired by a hatred of Christianity and of 
religion and constituted a revolution in the moral order 
which would inevitably lead to the destruction of Chris- 
tianity in France; that what was really needed was a revi- 
sion of the Concordat by France and the Papacy ; and that, 
by ignoring the Pope, the former had acted in the spirit of 
reprisal and not in that of amity; and he denounced the 
Separation Law as an act of spoliation and persecution. 

In an encyclical issued in 1906, Pope Pius X declared the 
law null and void and enjoined upon French Catholics not 
Po e refuses to ODe y **■ Separation of Church and State he 
to accept characterized as "a very pernicious error"; he 
denounced especially the associations cultuelles, 
which, he said, could not be formed "without violating 
sacred rights upon which the very life of the Church de- 
pended," as associations of laymen were to intrude upon the 
duties of a divinely ordained hierarchy. The chief difficulty 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 263 

in putting the Separation Law into operation arose out of 
the provision for these associations, for the Catholics, out of 
loyalty to the Pope, refused to organize them. A convention 
of French bishops voted to accept a form of association which 
would give the hierarchy full control over their membership 
and activities in order to prevent possible schisms. To this 
the Government readily assented; and in some places soci- 
eties were organized by the Catholics to exercise the func- 
tions assigned by the law to the associations cultuelles. 

The taking of inventories resulted in a series of disturb- 
ances. Crowds of faithful Catholics collected around the 
churches to prevent the officials from entering The inven- 
them; and in several instances troops had to be tones 
called out to disperse them. When the time allotted for the 
formation of the associations cultuelles expired, it was feared 
that a religious war would break out. But nothing hap- 
pened. The Government did not carry out the threat of 
closing the churches contained in the law, for it was very 
desirous to avoid anything which looked like persecution. 
Briand, now Minister of Public Worship, found a way out 
of the difficulty by ruling that religious services could be 
held under the general law providing for liberty of assembly. 

In the elections of 1906 the anti-clerical bloc increased its 
majority. During the Ministry of Georges Clemenceau an 
important amendment was made to the Separa- Amendment 
tion Law (1907) which provided that churches of I9 ° 7 
could be kept open for public worship by contracts between 
priests and the local authorities; but that church property, 
not claimed by associations cultuelles, should be taken by 
the Government and given to charitable institutions. The 
Clemenceau Ministry carried out this law vigorously. 

In spite of the great difficulties involved in the question 
and the bitter controversies aroused by it, the separation 
of Church and State became an accomplished Separation 
fact. Both parties gradually accommodated an accom- 
themselves to the new situation, which gave p 1S 
freedom in religion to the Church and freedom in politics 
to the State. 



264 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Social Legislation 

France has lagged behind Germany and Great Britain in 
the matter of social legislation for the working classes, 
largely for the reason that her industrial population being 
small, the problem was not so acute as in highly industrial- 
ized England and Germany. In the struggles of the Repub- 
lic with the royalists and with the Catholic Church, the 
workingman's problems were forgotten. The Republican 
politicians were too much in their element fighting conspir- 
ing royalists and their priestly sympathizers to care very 
much about social questions. 

Until the Dreyfus Affair the Third Republic had no defi- 
nite policy toward social reform. The crisis in the life of 
The Social ^ e R- e P u blic which that celebrated case revealed 
ists support brought home to the Republicans the necessity 
of allying themselves with the Socialists, who 
were rapidly growing in numbers, and who were led by 
brilliant men, like Jean Jaures and Alexandre Millerand. 
The French middle classes were now no longer obsessed by 
the fear of a social revolution which had haunted their imag- 
ination all through the nineteenth century. The suppression 
of the Commune having shown the futility of a Parisian 
uprising under modern conditions, the workingman was now 
welcomed as an ally because he was no longer feared as a 
foe. The Socialists had played a great part during the 
anxious days of the Dreyfus Affair, and . they helped ma- 
terially to fashion the new France which arose as a result 
of this momentous event. Jaures was a potent figure in 
the bloc, and, as we have already seen, Millerand became a 
member of the Waldeck- Rousseau Cabinet, which pledged 
the Republic "not to limit itself to mere political reforms, 
but to embark on the new path of social reform." 

Some progress had already been made in factory legisla- 
tion. The law of 1892 limited the labor of minors in factories 
Factory to ten hours a day, of women to eleven hours, 

legislation an( j Q f men to twelve. A law passed in 1900 re- 
duced the number of hours for all operatives to eleven; in 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 265 

1906, as a result of an agitation for an eight-hour day, the 
number was still further reduced to ten. Labor in the 
mines was forbidden to women and children. In 1906 the 
Sunday Rest Law was passed, entitling every employee to 
one day's rest during the week, either on Sunday or on 
some other day. These reforms were largely the result of 
the activity of Millerand, who greatly influenced his asso- 
ciates in the Cabinet. 

The first Workingmen's Compensation Law was passed 
in 1898. It provided for a regular scale of com- Working- 
pensation for injuries received by workingmen ^"ation™" 
in the course of their employment, the amount Law 
to be paid being in proportion, to the seriousness of the 
injury. 

Little progress has been made by France in the matter of 
sickness and unemployment insurance. The Government 
has so far been content to make annual contribu- XT . , 

JNo social 

tions to societies having these objects in view, insurance 

Following the great Revolution, many at- 
tempts were made to establish a system of old-age pensions. 
No serious step, however, was taken in that direction by 
any Government save by that of the Third old-Age 
Republic. In 1893 Parliament appointed a com- Pensions 
mission to study the subject and to recommend legislation. 
A heated controversy arose over the question whether the 
pensioning system should be compulsory or voluntary. The 
Senate several times defeated bills sent up by the Chamber 
because they contained compulsory clauses. A law was 
passed in 1905 which granted a pension of about one dollar 
a week to indigent men over seventy years of age, the money 
for this purpose to be raised by local taxation supplemented 
by government subsidies. Later the age limit was reduced 
to sixty-five. This system resembled old-fashioned outdoor 
relief, and it was for that reason considered unsatisfactory. 
However, it prepared the way for the Old-Age Pensions Law 
of 1 9 10 which, for the first time, established compulsory 
insurance for wage-earners earning less than five hundred 
and eighty dollars a year. The employer and the employee 



266 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

each contribute about $1.75 (nine francs) a year, and the 
State contributes $11.60 (sixty francs) annually for each 
insured person. The employee is entitled to a pension- of 
about eighty-five dollars a year at the age of sixty. In case 
of death before this age, the surviving dependents are 
granted a death benefit. 

The Labor Movement 

In no other European country has the labor movement 
been so closely identified with the political and philosophic 
tendencies of the day as in France. In the checkered history 
of French trade unionism may be read the story of political 
progress and reaction, of bold theories and revolutionary 
violence, which characterize the France of the nineteenth 
.century. 

The Law of Coalitions, passed in 1791, abolished all 
guilds and corporations, and established freedom of contract 
Law of for individuals only. It forbade even the gath- 

Coahtions e ring of men of the same trade to discuss their 
common affairs lest they should organize as a group; the 
"general good" alone was considered a legitimate object for 
organized effort. Trade unions were, of course, considered 
illegal, and to strike was criminal. This law was made more 
severe by Napoleon, and it continued in force till the end 
of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the coming of the 
Industrial Revolution made trade unions inevitable; and, 
as they could not organize openly, they did so secretly, or 
in the disguise of benevolent societies. These unions some- 
times fomented violent strikes and were often closely allied 
with the secret political societies that were instrumental in 
bringing about the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848. 

The Revolution of 1848 had a deep influence on the labor 
movement, of which it was partly the outcome. Louis 
Concessions Blanc's theories 1 greatly influenced many of 
ion^b/Na- tne Parisian workingmen, and they began to 
poleon III organize themselves. Although the uprising dur- 
ing the "June days" was suppressed, the idea of a general 

1 See p. 100. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 267 

insurrection of labor, or a social revolution, took firm root 
in France. During the early days of the Second Empire, 
trade unions were not allowed to be formed save under ex- 
ceptional conditions. Workingmen were carefully watched 
through the livret, first instituted by Napoleon I, whereby 
each laborer was obliged to have a booklet, analogous to a 
passport, in which his comings and goings were noted by his 
employer. But the industrial progress during the reign of 
Napoleon III brought into existence many trade unions, or 
syndicats. In 1864 an important concession to the spirit of 
the times was made in a law permitting strikes, and in 1868 
workingmen were allowed to organize. Both these conces- 
sions were made with many restrictions, as the law of 1791 
was not repealed; what was granted was legal toleration, 
not legal freedom. But most of the unions were suppressed 
as a result of the Commune, which discredited all working- 
class activity, whether moderate or revolutionary. 

After 1870 the French labor movement took an entirely 
new start. At first it showed distinctly moderate tenden- 
cies, deprecating strikes and seeking to better Legal r 
the condition of the workers by cooperating nition of the 
with the employers. Finally, in 1884, came the 
law which is the " charter of liberties" of organized labor 
in France. It gave workingmen freedom to organize and to 
strike, and thereby, for the first time, nullified the law of 
1 79 1. This reform was largely the work of Waldeck-Rous- 
seau, then a young disciple of Gambetta, who recognized 
the importance of the new "social strata." Trade unionism 
took on new life and began to spread rapidly. 1 A federa- 
tion of unions was formed, which held annual congresses to 
discuss general policies for labor. The various Socialist 
factions tried to capture the unions for their own particular 
propagandas, with the result that internal dissension almost 
disrupted the labor movement, and generated among French 
workingmen a feeling of distrust for politics and politicians. 
In 1895 the federation of unions reorganized under the name 

1 During the decade 1884-94, the number of unions increased from 68 
to 2178. 



268 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

"General Confederation of Labor" {Confederation Generate 
du Travail), and declared itself independent "of all political 
schools"; it proposed "to unite the workingmen in the 
economic field with the bonds of class solidarity to struggle 
for their integral emancipation." 

Another interesting development of the labor movement 

appeared in the formation of the Bourses du Travail, or 

Chambers of Labor. The first Bourse was organ- 

The Bourses .,._,.. __ • i , » • r • i 

ized in Pans in 1887 with the object of provid- 
ing a central meeting-place for workingmen, where they 
could come together to discuss their affairs. Similar estab- 
lishments were founded in other French cities, frequently 
with the aid of subsidies from the municipalities. Under 
the energetic direction of Fernand Pelloutier, these Bourses 
became centers of agitation, from which strikes were or- 
ganized and directed. As a consequence the municipalities 
withdrew their support, and closed some of them on the 
charge of fomenting rebellion. A national congress was 
held by the Bourses in 1892, when they organized them- 
selves into a federation which, ten years later (1902), joined 
the General Confederation of Labor. 

The union of these two federations marks the true be- 
ginning of this famous organization, as its present consti- 
,. ,. tution and its revolutionary activity followed 

Syndicalism 

closely upon the amalgamation. A new form of 
organization was adopted. The Confederation was to be 
the directing head, not of craft unions, such as bricklayers, 
carpenters, motormen, or shirt-makers, but of industrial 
unions, such as the building trades, railwaymen, the clothing 
trades, or the miners. The various craft unions were there- 
fore organized into industrial federations, each with a com- 
mon policy. Strikes were hereafter to be general, not local: 
for example, should the carpenters have a grievance, the en- 
tire building trade was to support them in a general indus- 
trial strike. This new labor policy, which became known 
as syndicalism, 1 was soon felt as a most potent force in the 
affairs of labor, although fewer than half of the organized 

1 For a discussion of syndicalism see pp. 599 ff. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 269 

workingmen in France were identified with the Confedera- 
tion. Syndicalism was intensely anti-militarist; it charged 
the army with being the tool of the capitalists and began a 
propaganda among the soldiers against military service. 

The Confederation began to agitate vigorously for an 
eight-hour law for all labor. It fixed May 1, 1906, as the 
day for beginning a general strike, when all labor General 
was to cease in order to compel the Government stnkes 
to pass such a law. When the day arrived there was al- 
most a panic throughout France, and the troops were called 
out to preserve order. Many stopped work on that day, but 
the strike was not sufficiently general to prove successful. 
In March, 1907, nearly all of Paris was plunged in darkness 
because of a strike of the gas and electric workers organized 
by the Confederation; but this, too, proved a failure, al- 
though it showed the new spirit animating the French work- 
ing class. Most disturbing to the Government was the union- 
izing of public employees, such as teachers and postmen, 
who desired to be affiliated with the Confederation. In 1909 
a strike of those employed in the public postal and telegraph 
offices took place, which failed mainly because many persons 
not in the service volunteered to take the places of the 
strikers. To prevent a similar occurrence the Chamber of 
Deputies passed a resolution denying the right of public 
employees to strike and forbidding them to join the Con- 
federation. 

Syndicalism's greatest effort was in the railway strike in 
October, 191 o, one of the most remarkable labor demon- 
strations in recent times. A demand made by The great 
the railwaymen for an increase in wages was gtrik^of 
refused. In a short time almost the entire rail- 1910 
way system of France was completely tied up. Food sup- 
plies for the cities were not delivered, inflicting great pri- 
vation. Rioting followed and much railway property was 
destroyed. The strikers had expected that the Socialist 
Radical Premier, Briand, who had himself once advocated 
the general strike, would sympathize with them. But they 
were soon undeceived. Briand discovered a new way of 



270 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

breaking a strike. The leaders were arrested, and the Gov- 
ernment issued mobilization orders to the strikers, calling 
them "to the colors," that is, to perform military duty as 
reservists. They were then ordered to protect the trains 
which, as soldiers, they could not refuse to do; in other 
words, the strikers became their own strike-breakers. The 
strike immediately collapsed. Briand was bitterly denounced 
by the workingmen as a tyrant and dictator. He defended 
himself by saying that the Government was faced by what 
was virtually rebellion, and that it had a right, therefore, 
to use all means, illegal ones if necessary, to protect itself 
from destruction. 

Political History (1906-14) 

In 1906 Armand Fallieres was elected President and 
Georges Clemenceau became Prime Minister. A new 
p . . issue now appeared, proportional representation, 

representa- which began to displace clericalism as the leading 
question in French politics. Ever since Gam- 
betta's day the scrutin (T arrondissement l had been the sub- 
ject of attack. The disregard of minorities, and sometimes of 
majorities which this system fostered, made the Chamber 
not a truly representative assembly, but a "broken mirror" 
in which France could not recognize her own image, as 
Gambetta once declared. Moreover, the attendant evils of 
district representation are intensified in a highly centralized 
country like France, where the great influence of the Na- 
tional Government is used in favor of the candidate sup- 
porting its policies; as a consequence there is a system of 
veiled "official candidates" which has aroused much criti- 
cism. Once elected, the Deputy becomes the dispenser of 
governmental favors, such as appointments, promotions, 
licenses to sell matches and tobacco which are state mono- 
polies, decorations, furloughs from the army, and the like. 
Only too frequently has the welfare of the country been 
forgotten by the representatives in their desire to please 
their districts which, in the expressive phrase of Briand, 

1 See p. 235. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 271 

became "stagnant pools" infesting with moral disease the 
political life of the people. It was hoped that proportional 
representation, by enlarging the unit of representation, 
would enlarge the political vision of the electors, who would 
then be inspired more by national issues than by local poli- 
tics. 1 The Briand Ministry had put electoral reform at the 
head of its program, and the elections of 1910 were fought 
on this issue. An overwhelming majority of those elected 
to the Chamber favored reform. In 1912 the Chamber 
passed a bill which proposed to establish a modified system 
of proportional representation, but the measure was de- 
feated in the Senate, the opponents being chiefly Radicals, 
fike Clemenceau and Combes, who feared that their party 
would be ousted from power in case the new electoral sys- 
tem was adopted. 

In 1 913 Raymond Poincare was elected President of 
France. He is a man of distinguished character and abilities 
whose political affiliations are with the Moderate D , ,. 

\ > _ Population 

Republicans. Poincare's election was largely due in France 
to his vigorous championship of a three-years' 
military service law. In 1905 service in the army had been 
reduced from three to two years. When, as a result of the 
Morocco and Balkan crises, 2 Germany had decided to in- 
crease her army, France determined to do likewise. But 
the question for France was how to do it, in view of the fact 
that her population was considerably smaller than that of 
Germany. During the early part of the nineteenth century 
France was second only to Russia in the size of her popula- 
tion; but since 1870 the birth-rate has fallen considerably 
and, as a result, the French population is almost station- 
ary. 3 Were it not for the low death-rate and foreign immi- 
gration, 4 the French population might actually be decreas- 
ing. This situation has an important military bearing. 

1 For a fuller discussion of proportional representation, see p. 492. 

2 See p. 708. 

3 In 1872 France contained about 36,000,000 inhabitants; in 19 14 about 
40,000,000. 

4 In 1914 there were about a million foreigners domiciled in France, mainly 
Italians and Belgians. 



272 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Where was France to get the men in case of a war with Ger- 
many, whose increase in population during two months 
equaled that of France for five years? "Every year we win a 
battle against France," once remarked General von Moltke. 

There was only one possible way of increasing the size of 
the French army, namely, to increase the term of military 
The three- service. In 1913 a bill, raising the term of active 
years' serv- service from two to three years, was introduced 
in the Chamber, where it encountered most vehe- 
ment opposition, chiefly from the Socialists. Jaures deliv- 
ered many eloquent speeches against the measure which, he 
declared, would put an intolerable burden on the people. He 
denounced the system of universal conscription generally, 
and he proposed the substitution of a popular militia for a 
standing army. Enormous mass meetings were organized by 
socialists and syndicalists to protest against three years' 
service ; and several times troops had to be called out to dis- 
perse the mobs. It was only with the greatest difficulty that 
the bill finally passed Parliament. Under the new law, the 
French army was increased by about 170,000 men. 

The elections of 19 14 were significant only because the 
representation of the Unified Socialists rose to one hundred 
The elections and one seats in the Chamber, a gain of twenty- 
of 1914 s j x seats> largely at the expense of the Moderates. 

A new Cabinet was formed under a Socialist Radical, Rene 
Viviani, pledged to a number of reforms, including propor- 
tional representation, an income tax, and social insurance. 
But the European storm clouds were gathering. Suddenly 
in 1 9 14 the World War of 19 14 broke out, and France 
was stricken with the agony of invasion. 

Literature under the Republic 

French literature after 1870 no longer displayed either the 
joyous buoyancy of the Romanticists or the calm strength 
Pessimistic of the Realists. A spirit of pessimism took pos- 
French session of the new generation, on whose minds 

writers the national disaster of 1870 exercised a pro- 

found impression. To the world at that time the defeat of 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 273 

France by Germany was a sign of the decadence of the for- 
mer, and so widespread was this idea that even many 
Frenchmen believed it. They became skeptical about the 
destiny of their country and of humanity in general, and 
there developed what was called the fin-de-siecle spirit, a 
nonchalant attitude of mind characteristic of France at 
the end of the nineteenth century. 

The last of the great Realists was Guy de Maupassant 
(1850-93), who is universally regarded as the greatest of 
short-story writers. Like his master, Flaubert, ,, 

•1 Maupassant 

Maupassant strove to describe life with im- 
personal objectiveness; he, too, believed that the true func- 
tion of the author is to stand passively by and allow his 
characters to act out their destiny. His stories depict hu- 
man vices and virtues, as seen in all classes of people and 
under all circumstances. Whether the happening be fright- 
ful or idyllic, it is described in a detached, almost anony- 
mous way, so that an impression of absolute truthfulness is 
made on the reader. Each story is its own comment. Al- 
though Maupassant seems to have no point of view about 
life, there runs through his work a hidden vein of melan- 
choly, which might be interpreted to mean that, though life 
is really not worth living, it is interesting: so let us live. 

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Realism 
passed to its logical but brutal conclusion, Naturalism. 
To get " slices of life " the novelists of the new 
school worked among miners and fishermen, be- 
came patients in hospitals, or had themselves incarcerated 
in prisons in order to reproduce in literature these experi- 
ences, which they considered "human documents." The 
most distinguished champion of Naturalism was Emile Zola 
( 1 840-1 903), whose novels created a world-wide sensation. 
In imitation of Balzac, Zola set himself the task of writing 
a comedie humaine of the middle nineteenth century. This 
is the famous Rougon-Macquart series of twenty novels 
describing "the natural and social history of a family living 
under the Second Empire," which deals largely with the 
problem of degenerate heredity. The most famous books in 



274 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

this series are Germinal {The Sprouting), La Terre {The 
Countryside), and La Debacle {The Downfall). Zola reveled 
in unsavory descriptions of human degradation, for he re- 
garded man as a "human beast" who could be moved only 
through his appetites. Yet, for all his brutal pessimism, he 
showed himself a hero during the Dreyfus Affair, when, 
at great personal risk, he jumped into the fray in order to 
right the wrong done to an innocent man. 1 Zola, unlike 
Flaubert, had no talent for analyzing the individual soul, 
but he greatly excelled in describing angry mobs, street 
crowds, tumultuous assemblies, and other great masses of 
men in action. 

The charming and pathetic tales of Alphonse Daudet 
(1840-97) have endeared him to millions of readers. Daudet 
combined pathos with humor to a degree at- 
tained only by Charles Dickens, with whom he 
has been frequently compared. He was "ever trembling 
into tears or flashing into laughter." His most famous work 
is Les Aventures prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon {The 
Extraordinary Adventures of Tartarin of Tarascon). Tartarin 
is a typical meridional, or South Frenchman, whose exuber- 
ant imagination gives the neighborhood the general impres- 
sion that he is a mighty hunter. Forced at last by public 
opinion to give proof of his skill, Tartarin leaves for Algiers 
on a lion-hunting expedition. There he shoots a tame old 
lion that used to be taken about the streets by a beggar, and 
returns home in triumph with his trophy. The story is told 
with great charm and humor and the character of the hero 
is described in inimitable style. 

A unique figure in French literature is Paul Verlaine 
(1844-96), whose poems have a quality quite original in 
TT , . French poetry. Verlaine excels in what he calls 

Verlaine , ,. • r 1 1 

nuance, delicate suggestion in tuneful words. 
He plays upon words as upon a musical instrument, and 
his verse has been well described as "disembodied song," so 
lute-like is its quality and so haunting its charm. Verlaine 
had no message to give to mankind nor did he care to have 

1 See p. 252. 



THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 275 

any; he merely wished to express the mood of exquisite mel- 
ancholy that frequently possessed him. Curiously enough, 
this great artist lived much pf his life as a Parisian vaga- 
bond, now in the cafe, now in the gutter, now in the hos- 
pital. He was a child that fell into evil ways and remained 
a child. 

By far the greatest figure in contemporary French litera- 
ture is Jacques Anatole Thibault (1844- ), better known by 
his pseudonym, Anatole France. No writer has Anatole 
more truly expressed the mood of the generation France 
that grew up under the Third Republic than this author. 
After the death of Renan, his master, he was the leading 
spirit among the intellectual elite of France. A true French 
man-of-letters, France is learned, witty, and wise; and the 
style of his disquisitions, generally in the form of loosely 
constructed novels, is almost perfect in charm and lucid- 
ity. Satire, varying from irony so delicate as to be almost 
indistinguishable from serious intent, to mockery that is 
blasphemous and sometimes, though rarely, coarse, per- 
vades nearly all his writing. 

France has chosen to aim the shafts of his wit at two sub- 
jects, early Christianity and modern society. His attacks on 
Christian ideals take the form of stories of the early martyrs 
of the Faith, in which this twentieth-century Voltaire sat- 
irizes their motives and their practices. " Bibles of modern 
unbelief," a critic has called his books. His attacks upon 
the modern social system are most biting. The following 
excerpt is characteristic of his manner: "The State, with 
its majestic sense of justice and equality, forbids the rich 
man as well as the poor man from sleeping in the streets." 
In a description of primitive life, which pretends to explain 
the origin of our cherished institutions, we read: "See how 
this furious man is biting the nose of his fallen adversary; 
and how the other one is pounding the head of a woman 
with a big stone!" cries one character to another. "I see 
them well enough. Do not interfere! They are creating 
law; they are founding property; they are establishing the 
principles of civilization, the basis of society and the foun- 



276 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

dation of the State," is the reply. Yet this master of irony- 
is full of marked tenderness for the very persons and things 
that he so mercilessly satirizes ; for he believes that it is the 
spirit of folly, not of evil, which is responsible for our incon- 
gruous world. 

One of France's most famous books is lie des Penguins 
{Penguin Island), a satirical history of his country, in which 
religion, morals, art, and politics are dissected with an ele- 
gant dagger held in the delicate but firm fingers of this 
aristocrat of letters. The story has a pessimistic conclu- 
sion: the world is plunged into a universal cataclysm of 
revolution and the wearisome process of rebuilding civiliza- 
tion has to begin anew. His Histoire Contemporaine, a 
series of four novels, is a penetrating study of French politi- 
cal and ecclesiastical life. The hero, M. Bergeret, is a pro- 
fessor at a provincial university who loves his books, his 
daughter, and his dog. He is "irreligious, but with decency 
and good taste." It is M. Bergeret's wont to go among his 
neighbors, like Socrates, and start discussions; and, like the 
latter, he is regarded as a nuisance and suffers in conse- 
quence. 

Anatole France lived for many years in "an ivory tower," 
a literary recluse interested only in art and literature; but 
the Dreyfus Affair aroused him to action; and, like Zola, he 
became an ardent champion of the condemned Captain. He 
has since that time continued actively interested in public 
affairs as a reformer and a Socialist. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE GERMAN EMPIRE 

Government 

The outward structure of the political system of Germany 
resembles that of the United States. It is a federal union 
composed of twenty- five states enjoying large Germany 
powers of local autonomy and united for common a federal 

i 1 t-> i- union 

purposes under a central government at Berlin. 
Centralization in Germany has been carried to a larger ex- 
tent than in the United States. Matters like the regulation 
of corporations, ownership of railways, social legislation, and 
civil and criminal codes, which in America are left largely 
to the states, are in Germany subjects of imperial legisla- 
tion. But the federal laws are administered by state officials 
under the supervision of the central Government. The Ger- 
man federal union is an Empire and the office of Emperor 
is hereditary in the Hohenzollern dynasty, the rulers of Prus- 
sia. Each state, except the three city republics and Alsace- 
Lorraine, is likewise a monarchy; the local ruler is known as 
king, grand duke, duke, or prince, generally according to the 
size of his domain, 1 which he governs in conjunction with 
a local legislature. 

The most powerful governing body in the Empire is the 
Bundesrat, which is composed of sixty-one members, dis- 
tributed among the states roughly according to The Bun- 
size. Prussia has seventeen; Bavaria, six; Sax- desrat 
ony and Wiirttemberg, four each; Alsace-Lorraine, Baden, 
and Hesse, three each; Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Bruns- 

1 There are four kingdoms, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wiirttemberg; 
six grand duchies, Baden, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Saxe-Weimar-Eise- 
nach, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and Oldenburg; five duchies, Brunswick, Saxe- 
Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Anhalt; seven princi- 
palities, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (united in 
1916), Waldeck, Reuss Elder Line, Reuss Younger Line, Schaumburg-Lippe, 
and Lippe; three free cities, Liibeck, Bremen, and Hamburg; and the Imperial 
territory, Alsace-Lorraine. 



278 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

wick, two each ; and the rest one member each. A delega- 
tion to the Bundesrat votes as a unit and under instruc- 
tions from the monarch whom it represents and by whose 
grace it holds office. As a legislature the Bundesrat ini- 
tiates all legislation of importance and issues ordinances 
which have the force of law. Its consent is necessary for the 
acceptance of treaties, for the dissolution of the Reichstag, 
and for the appointment of many of the federal officials. 
It acts as judge in quarrels between the states, and has 
the power to coerce any refractory state that refuses to obey 
its decision. An amendment to the Imperial Constitution 
must first be submitted to the Reichstag, or popular House, 
where a majority vote is required for its passage; then it 
goes to the Bundesrat, where fourteen votes are sufficient 
to defeat it. This gives the Bundesrat power to prevent 
changes in the fundamental laws of the Empire. 

The distinctively democratic feature of the Government 
of Germany is the Reichstag, which is composed of three 
The Rekhs- hundred and ninety-seven members elected by 
tag universal suffrage. Its term of office is five years, 

unless it is sooner dissolved by the Emperor with the consent 
of the Bundesrat. According to the Constitution, all imperial 
laws must have the consent of the Reichstag. But it does 
not follow from this that it is a legislature like the American 
House of Representatives, which shapes laws to its liking, 
or a parliament like the British House of Commons, on 
which the Government of the day is dependent for its ex- 
istence. Although the Reichstag has the right to initiate 
legislation, it seldom does so; that is left to the Bundesrat. 
A bill adopted by the Bundesrat is sent to the Reichstag, 
which may accept, amend, or reject it. If accepted, the 
bill becomes law; if it is amended, it goes back to the 
Bundesrat, which has the first and last word in all legisla- 
tion; if the bill fails, the status quo continues, for the Cabinet 
does not resign as in England under similar circumstances. 
As the power of the Reichstag is negative, its chief function 
is that of criticism, which it very freely exercises, often to 
the embarrassment of the Government. It serves chiefly as 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 279 

a forum for political discussion, and constitutes the best 
means that the Government has of gauging public opinion. 

Representation in the Reichstag at the present time 
closely approaches a "rotten-borough" system. No reap- 
portionment has taken place since 1870, in spite Unfair rep- 
of great changes in population. Berlin has grown [nth^Reichs- 
from a city of six hundred thousand in 1870, to ta s 
one of over two million inhabitants, but its representation in 
the Reichstag continues to be six members; whereas the 
rural region known as East Prussia, with a population about 
that of Berlin, sends a delegation of seventeen members. 
There are "giant" constituencies of three hundred thousand 
and over and "dwarf" constituencies of fifteen thousand 
and less. In the elections of 19 12 seventy- four Conservatives 
were elected by about two million voters and one hundred 
and ten Social Democrats by four and a quarter million. As 
the present system gives the advantage to the rural dis- 
tricts, which are mainly Conservative in politics, the Gov- 
ernment has persistently refused a reapportionment for 
fear that a larger representation from the cities would result 
in a larger number of Socialists in the Reichstag. 

A striking feature of the German system of government is 
the Chancellor, or Prime Minister, who is appointed by and 
is responsible to the Emperor. He therefore does The Chan- 
not resign on an adverse vote of the Reichstag, cellor 
but only when he displeases his master, the Emperor. As 
the mouthpiece of the latter, and as the head of the im- 
perial administration, the Chancellor has great influence 
in shaping the policies of the Empire, both foreign and 
domestic. 

The Imperial Constitution requires that the presidency 
of the union be vested in the King of Prussia, with the title 
of Deutscher Kaiser, or German Emperor, and The Kaiser 
that it shall always be hereditary in the House or Em P eror 
of Hohenzollern. The chief function of the Emperor is that 
of commander-in-chief of the army and navy, a position 
purely nominal in other countries, but a political reality in 
Germany, where the army plays a great part in the life of the 



280 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

nation. Through the Chancellor he influences the foreign and 
domestic policies of the Empire. His legislative and execu- 
tive authority is, however, strictly circumscribed ; he cannot 
directly veto bills passed by the Bundesrat and Reichstag; 
and he shares with the Bundesrat in the appointment of 
imperial officials. 

But the real powers of the Emperor are derived from the 
fact that he is King of Prussia. The most distinguishing 
Privileges of characteristic of the German Empire is the domi- 
Prussia nance of Prussia over the entire union, which is 

accomplished in the following ways. As we have already 
seen, her King is German Emperor; all proposed changes in 
the army, navy, or system of taxation must have Prussia's 
consent; the chairman of every standing committee in the 
Bundesrat, except the one on foreign affairs, must be a 
Prussian; moreover, her seventeen votes in the Bundesrat 
are sufficient to prevent changes in the constitution. The 
Fatherland was not formed by the absorption of Prussia into 
Germany, but by the absorption of Germany into Prussia: 
the part swallowed the whole. 

It is therefore highly important to examine the political 
structure of Prussia, for in it lies the "efficient secret" of the 
Government Government of the Empire. Prussia has been a 
of Prussia constitutional state since 1850, when a parlia- 
ment, the Landtag, was established by the King. But the 
limited power of this body, as well as the reactionary 
electoral system, makes the Landtag merely a veil for au- 
tocratic rule. It consists of two houses, the Herrenhaus, 
or House of Lords, and the Abgeordnetenhaus, or House 
of Representatives. The former is distinctly an aristocratic 
body, as its membership, numbering three hundred, is made 
up mainly of wealthy landed aristocrats. The latter consists 
of four hundred and forty-three members who are chosen by 
the well-known three-class system. According to this system 
the voters of a district are divided into three groups: first, 
the wealthy, who pay one third of the direct taxes of the 
district ; then, the moderately well-to-do, who pay the second 
third; and, finally, the mass of poor, who pay the remaining 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 281 

third. Each class elects by public ballot one third of the 
members of an electoral college which, in turn, elects the 
representatives for the district. As votes are not counted but 
weighed in the scale of property to determine their value, 
the electoral colleges are naturally controlled by the prop- 
erty-owners. 1 This three-class system, with its property 
qualifications, indirect election, and public voting, was de- 
liberately designed to strangle democratic government, and 
even Bismarck once denounced it as "the most wretched of 
all electoral systems." Its unfair character was strikingly 
illustrated in the elections of 1908, when the Conservatives, 
who received about seventeen per cent of the popular vote, 
returned two hundred and twelve members to the Abgeord- 
netenhaus; the Center, who received about twenty per cent, 
returned one hundred and four members; and the Socialists, 
about twenty-four per cent, returned seven only. The con- 
servative parties, though possessing a minority of the suf- 
frage, are assured by this system of a perpetual majority in 
the popular chamber. 

The actual government of Prussia is in the hands of the 
King, who is vested by the Constitution with sovereign 
power. He appoints and dismisses all officials p ower f t jj e 
including the Cabinet, and he has an absolute King in 
veto over all legislation passed by the Landtag. 
He also appoints Prussia's delegation to the Bundesrat 
and directs its vote in that body. Although the other 
states of the Empire have fairly democratic constitutions, 
the influence of Prussia is the determining force in the gov- 
ernment of the German people. The Emperor, as King of 
Prussia, is thus able indirectly to exercise the dominant 
control in the Empire, which proves to be, in reality, an 
autocratic, not a parliamentary, state. 

It is rather astonishing that a people like the Germans, 
who have made such wonderful progress in almost every 
field of human endeavor, should maintain in the twentieth 

1 It is reckoned that three per cent of the Prussian voters are in the first 
class, ten per cent in the second, and eighty-seven per cent in the third. In 
some districts the first class consists of only five or six persons. 



282 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

century a political system which had become archaic in the 
Reasons for nineteenth. It must not be supposed that the 
autocracy in Germans are content to be the "political kin- 
(i) The dergarten of Europe." Far from it. Time and 

again has public opinion shown a decided pref- 
erence for democratic rule. Why, then, is the autocratic 
system tolerated? It must be remembered that Germany 
was made by "blood and iron," and that this system was 
riveted on her by a conservative military class. To change 
it peaceably is impossible without the consent of Prussia, 
that is, of the King and the landed aristocracy; to rise in 
revolt against the Government would be a quixotic pro- 
ceeding, because an armed uprising, no matter how wide- 
spread, could easily be suppressed by that military machine 
which proved its prowess at Sadowa and Sedan, and which 
was able to withstand the Allies in 19 14. 

The German people are, moreover, loath to rise in revolu- 
tion for fear of losing what they gained in 1870, their Father- 
(2) Fear of l an d- The idea has been sedulously fostered by 
foreign ene- the ruling classes that a popular uprising would 

give Germany's enemies an opportunity to make 
war upon her in order to reduce her to impotence. To pro- 
tect the Fatherland a united people must stand behind a 
strong army, and the Government, no matter how distaste- 
ful it is, must be supported. 

It should also be borne in mind that the Germans are 
very proud of their Government, and with good reason. Al- 
(i) Efficienc tnou &h domineering and even brutal at times, 
of the Gov- it is progressive, enlightened, economical, and 

marvelously efficient. In no other country in 
the world is administration to the same degree a science 
applied by experts as in Germany. Laws are the result of 
thorough study, and they are enacted with an eye to the 
welfare of every class in the community. The legislation 
of the Empire, which will be described later, 1 has been espe- 
cially favorable to the common man, who has benefited from 
this system. "So, why revolt?" he reasons. 

1 See p. 296. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 283 

Finally, there exists a condition which effectively bars the 
way to the establishment of democracy. It will be recalled 
that in England the first triumph of democracy , % division 
came as a result of a combination of the mid- among its 
die and working classes, who forced through the 
Reform Bill of 1832; in France a similar combination suc- 
ceeded in the Revolution of 1830. History has proved that 
it takes two classes out of power to cope successfully with 
one class in power. In Germany the working classes have 
continually refused to combine with the middle classes 
against the intrenched aristocracy, on the ground that the 
middle classes would reap the benefit, as in England in 1832 
and in France in 1830. Although the middle classes are 
opposed to the autocratic regime, they have consistently 
refused to combine with the workingmen to overthrow it, 
because they fear that the latter, who are largely Socialists, 
might endeavor to establish a socialistic republic, as was 
attempted in France in the Revolution of 1848 and in the 
Commune of 1871. Its opponents being thus divided, the 
autocratic system, supported by the landed aristocracy, or 
Junkers, has been able to maintain itself without serious 
difficulty. 

Political Parties 

In Germany there are no political parties in the English 
or American sense. Instead of two powerful political organ- 
izations with leaders, platforms, conventions, The "frac- 
and candidates, there are numerous political tlons 
groups which are formed in the Reichstag, generally after 
elections. Candidates for office are often self-nominated or 
nominated by small organizations representing various po- 
litical, economic, or religious interests. As no one "frac- 
tion," as a political group is termed, is ever large enough to 
command a majority in the Reichstag, several combine to 
form a Blok, or alliance, in order to pass laws. 

The many parties may be grouped into five main divi- 
sions, Conservative, Center, National Liberal, Radical, and 
Socialist. The Conservative Party represents primarily the 



284 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

landed interests, and its support comes mainly from land- 
The Con- owners, peasants, and officials. It favors a high 
servatives protective tariff on agricultural products, co- 
lonial expansion, and an ever stronger army and navy. It 
is bitterly opposed to any reform in the political system, 
some Conservatives considering it even too democratic. 
Although numerically small, the Conservative Party is by 
far the most important in Germany, because it is supported 
by the aristocratic Junkers, who have directed the policies 
of the Empire since its birth. An influential faction of 
the Conservatives, known as the Pan-Germans, advocate 
aggressive foreign policies in order to establish in the world 
the predominance of German influence. 

The Center, or Clerical Party, represents the interests of 
the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It is supported 
chiefly by the Catholic peasants of Bavaria and 
the Catholic workingmen of the Rhenish prov- 
inces. The political program of this party has never been 
definitely formulated, but its general attitude in the Reichs- 
tag is moderate, hence the name "Center," which signi- 
fies that the group sits between the Left, or Radicals, and 
the Right, or Conservatives. Since the abrogation of the 
anti-Catholic laws passed during the Kulturkampf, 1 the 
Center has generally united with the Conservatives to sup- 
port the Government, because both these parties represent 
essentially agricultural interests and favor conservative 
principles of government. 

The interests of the middle classes are represented by the 
National Liberals and the Radicals. The former favors revi- 
The Na- s ^ on °^ tne tariff downwards on agricultural, but 
tional Lib- not on industrial, products, and moderate politi- 
cal reforms, such as the abolition of the Prus- 
sian three-class system, a reapportionment of the Empire, 
and the restriction of church influence in education and 
government. It is also "national," and agrees with the 
Conservatives in favoring colonial expansion, an aggressive 
foreign policy, and a large army and navy. The leaders of 

1 See p. 290. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 285 

the National Liberals are the lords of industry, or great 
capitalists, who deeply resent the monopoly of influence and 
offices that the Junkers enjoy in the Government, and are 
constantly demanding equality in these respects with the 
latter. 

The most advanced of all the middle-class groups is the 
Radical, or Progressive People's Party. It favors the 
complete democratization of the .Government The Radi- 
through the establishment of ministerial respon- cals 
sibility, reapportionment of the Empire, and a democratic 
electoral system for Prussia. This party is also a strong 
opponent of "militarism," or the influence of the army in 
the Government, and of "clericalism," or the influence of 
the churches in the Government ; hence it favors the com- 
plete subordination of the military to the civil power and 
the separation of Church and State. In regard to the tariff, 
it favors free trade as maintained by England. 

By far the most significant group is the Social Democratic, 
or Socialist Party. It is the only thoroughly organized 
political party in Germany, as it maintains The Social 
central and local organizations that hold conven- Democrats 
tions to nominate candidates and to adopt platforms. It 
has a large corps of enthusiastic volunteer workers, and its 
regular party membership in 1914 numbered about eight 
hundred thousand men and women. The Social Democratic 
Party has become a channel for the expression of political 
and economic discontent; and, although most of its sup- 
porters are workingmen, many of the middle class vote 
with it as the best way of protesting against autocracy and 
militarism. 1 

The Army 
Ever since the Liberation Movement of 18 14, the Prussian 
military ideal has been that of "a nation in Universal 
arms," or of an army consisting of the whole military 

service 

body of able-bodied citizens. This was made 

possible by the system of universal military service or 

1 For further description of the German Socialists, see pp. 657 ff. 



286 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

general conscription which, as we have seen, was first 
adopted by Prussia. Later, the principle was incorporated 
in the constitution of the German Empire, which requires 
military service of every citizen capable of bearing arms. 

A recruit is "called to the colors" generally at the age of 
twenty, although he is liable to service at seventeen. For 
The military two years he is withdrawn entirely from civil 
system ytf e an( j ^ e S p en d s a il his time in constant train- 

ing, or active service. If he joins the cavalry he is required 
to give three years of active service. Those who give evi- 
dence of superior education serve only one year, and form a 
special group in the army known as the "one-year volun- 
teers." As the latter generally come from well-to-do fam- 
ilies, they provide their own equipment and live at home. 
This group supplies many of the officers of the Landwehr. 
At the age of twenty-two an active soldier is put into the 
reserve, where he remains for five years, during which time 
he is called out to drill for two periods of about six weeks 
each. At the age of twenty-seven he passes into the Land- 
wehr, where he remains till the age of thirty-nine. During 
the first five years, or the "first ban," in the Landwehr, he 
is occasionally called out for drill ; but during the latter part, 
or "second ban," he performs few military duties. From 
the Landwehr he passes into the Landsturm, where he re- 
mains till the age of forty-five, when his military service is 
over. The Landsturm is not called out in case of war, but 
is used for garrison duty at home. 

Strictly speaking there is no "German" afmy, as each 
state organizes and officers its own military force. But all 
The Great t ^ ie arrrues are SUD J ec t to the supreme command 
General of the Emperor, who, as Bundesfeldherr, or Com- 

mander-in-Chief of the federal forces, appoints 
the Great General Staff, a body of military experts that 
devote their entire time and energy planning campaigns, 
directing the movement of the armies of the Empire, and, 
in the words of General von Moltke, "working out all pos- 
sible eventualities of war in the most minute way." 

The training of recruits is most severe. Tests of endur- 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 287 

ance, discipline, and courage are constantly devised in order 
to bring them to the highest pitch of military Training of 
efficiency. During his term of service the young the soldiers 
German is imbued with the spirit of obedience which he 
carries with him into civil life; he becomes an obedient em- 
ployee and a law-abiding citizen. Pflicht, or duty, is his 
watchword. He also imbibes the military spirit which exalts 
the profession of arms over all other professions and the 
military virtues over all other virtues. 

The officers of the army are practically a military caste 
with their own code of laws and morals. They are recruited 
in the main from the Junker class, and are sol- ^, 

. . . . The officers 

diers by tradition, temperament, and training 
almost from childhood. The spirit of deference to the officer 
is marked everywhere in Germany. Civilians are considered 
inferior and treated as such by the officers, particularly by 
the younger ones, whose behavior is often haughty and 
overbearing. This was strikingly illustrated in the famous 
Zabern Affair. 1 

The influence of the army in civil affairs has been very 
great, and many complaints have been made by German 
democrats against what is termed "saber rule," ..... . 

<-r>i t-» • Militarism 

or militarism. The control of the Reichstag over 
the army is slight. Its organization is established by the 
Constitution; its administration is exclusively in the hands 
of the Kaiser; and its budget is voted for a number of years 
at a time, 2 not annually, as is the case in those countries, 
like England, France, and the United States, where the mili- 
tary is under the full control of the civil power. Writing of 
the possibility of full parliamentary control of the army, a 
well-known German historian, Hans Delbriick, recently de- 
clared that "whoever understands thoroughly the feelings 
and ideals of our corps of officers knows that such a thing 
is an impossibility; for this to come to pass, it would be 
necessary that our army experience a defeat as great as 
that of the French at Sedan." 

1 See p. 317. 

2 Between 1874 and 1893 the period was seven years; since then, five. 



288 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Bismarck as Chancellor 

Unlike his great contemporary, Cavour, Bismarck lived 
to direct the fortunes of the political structure of which he 
Bismarck's had been the master-builder. He became the first 
realism Chancellor of the German Empire, which he ruled 

so long as Emperor William I reigned. Problems as mo- 
mentous as those previous to unification now faced the vet- 
eran statesman, who set about solving them with his old 
daring and insight. Bismarck's intellectual mobility was 
amazing; he "grew visibly." He frequently boasted of be- 
ing entirely free from "doctrinairism," by which he meant 
that he had no fixed ideas or principles, but suited his 
theories to the needs of every problem. "No theory!" was 
his constant rejoinder to those who wished to solve Ger- 
many's new problems according to set formulas. Bismarck 
was the lone realist in a land of theorists. This was strik- 
ingly illustrated by his change of attitude toward universal 
suffrage, which he had bitterly opposed all his life. When he 
was convinced by Ferdinand Lassalle, the Socialist, that 
to inject a popular element into the Government would 
mean the "moral conquest of Germany," he adopted uni- 
versal suffrage for the Reichstag. In spite of his frequent 
and sometimes startling changes of policy, Bismarck, nev- 
ertheless, consistently pursued one aim, the welfare of 
Germany. 

In foreign affairs Bismarck's object was to make secure 
what had been gained in 1870. He declared that Germany 
Bismarck's was now "satiated," having accomplished her 
foreign unity and having taken a leading position among 

p ° lcy the nations of the world. But she had earned the 

bitter enmity of France, which might bring another conflict. 
Bismarck was astonished at France's quick recovery from 
the crushing defeat of 1870. To weaken her internally, to 
attract her attention to other fields, and to isolate her in 
Europe were now the aims of his diplomacy. He therefore 
favored and secretly encouraged a republican government for 
France in the hope that factional quarrels would divide the 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 289 

nation. He also encouraged the French to expand in North- 
ern Africa in order to make them forget the loss of Alsace- 
Lorraine. But, most of all, he sought to prevent an alliance 
between France and Russia, for such a combination would 
be most dangerous to Germany, who, being geographically 
situated between these two nations, would find herself 
locked in their hostile embrace in case of war. Bismarck's 
plans succeeded admirably and he achieved the greatest 
diplomatic triumph of his career by forming the famous 
Triple Alliance. 1 

To Bismarck and his associates there was an ever-present 
fear that "particularism" and internationalism, so deeply 
embedded in the consciousness of the German Methods of 
people, would loosen the foundations of the new fostering 
Germany. In order to make the Germans sink 
their localisms in the common consciousness of national 
unity, the Imperial Government constantly enlarged its 
functions. A central Imperial Bank was created to har- 
monize the financial operations of the various state govern- 
ments; a civil and criminal code was issued establishing a 
common private law for the Empire; all the state railways 
were put under the supervision of an imperial railway board; 
new coins were issued, bearing on one side the effigy of the 
Emperor and on the other, the arms of the Empire, to be the 
missionaries "preaching the good news of unity." 

Almost from the very beginning of national unity, a 
great struggle began between the Empire and the Catholic 
Church. In spite of the fact that the Catholics The Cath- 
had rallied to the Fatherland during the Franco- olics s , us ; 

pectecl 01 

Prussian War, their whole-hearted loyalty to the being anti- 
new Empire was questioned because they had natlonal 
favored Austria during the Seven Weeks' War. In the elec- 
tions of 1 87 1 the Center, or Catholic Party, elected sixty- 
three members to the Reichstag. To Bismarck this was a 
challenge to the German Empire. Memories of the strug- 
gle between Pope and Emperor during the Middle Ages 
were revived, and the Pope was accused of desiring to 

1 See p. 685. 



290 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ruin the new Empire as his predecessors had ruined the 
old. 

What aggravated the situation was the attitude of Pope 
Pius IX toward modern ideas. In 1864 he had issued a noted 
encyclical, Quanta Cura, which was followed by 
the Syllabus of Modern Errors, both of which de- 
fended most vigorously the religious conception of society 
and government, and declared that the supreme authority 
in the world lay in the Church. Pope Pius denounced as 
"modern errors" liberty of conscience, civil marriage, di- 
vorce, and secular education. On December 8, 1869, there 
was convened in Rome a great assembly of Catholic eccle- 
siastics, known as the Vatican Council, which was the first 
general assembly of the Church since the Council of Trent 
in the sixteenth century. It adopted the dogma known as 
" papal infallibility," by which is meant that when the Pope 
speaks ex cathedra, or by virtue of his apostolic authority, 
on matters pertaining to faith and morals, he cannot err. 

These pronouncements of the Church were received by 
liberals throughout the world as a declaration of war against 
Catholics modern society, and they had the effect of 
versus lib- greatly embittering the relations between Cath- 
olics and non-Catholics. This was particularly 
true in Germany, the home of the Protestant Revolution, 
where the differences between Catholic and Protestant 
engendered during the sixteenth century still lingered in 
some quarters. Hatred for Catholicism was very strong 
among the large number of free-thinkers in Germany who 
derived their inspiration from the French Revolution and 
from the philosophy of Kant. 

The struggle which followed is known as the Kulturkampf, 
or the battle for civilization. It began in 1871 with an im- 
The "May perial law making it a penal offense for priests to 
Laws" attack the Government from the pulpit. In the 

same year another law was passed expelling the Jesuits from 
Germany. Then followed the famous "May Laws" (1873- 
75), enacted by the Prussian Landtag under the influence 
of Falk, the new Minister of Public Worship, making civil 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 2.91 

marriage compulsory, obliging all candidates for the priest- 
hood to attend government schools and universities and to 
pass government examinations, and stopping subventions 
to the Church. A strict supervision was also instituted over 
Catholic institutions, and the civil government asserted its 
authority in the appointment and dismissal of priests. 

The answer of the Pope was to declare these laws null and 
void, and the faithful in Germany were enjoined by him not 
to obey them. This interference aroused Bis- Persecution 
marck's ire, and he determined to crush all op- oi Cathollcs 
position of the Church. "We shall not go to Canossa 1 either 
in the flesh or in the spirit," was his famous challenge. 
Priests who refused obedience to the "May Laws" were 
fined and jailed, church property was confiscated, and many 
churches were closed by the Government. In order to divide 
the Catholics, Bismarck encouraged a schism which was 
formed by a group calling itself the "Old Catholics," who 
refused to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility. The Old 
Catholics were led by a well known theologian named Dr. 
Dollinger, whose followers numbered only about fifty thou- 
sand, the overwhelming majority of the German Catholics 
standing by the Pope. This "Diocletian persecution," as 
it was called by the Catholics, only roused them to stub- 
born resistance, and many willingly suffered imprisonment 
for conscience's sake. Many non-Catholics also opposed 
the "May Laws" as an attack on religious freedom, and the 
Liberal and Conservative Parties, which supported Bis- 
marck in the Kulturkampf, were severely criticized. 

The Catholic voters found a champion in Ludwig Wind- 
thorst, an able parliamentarian and eloquent R epea i f 
orator, who became the leader of the Center the "May 

• 1 /~> Laws 

Party. Bismarck s majority of Liberals and Con- 
servatives was beginning to vanish, as the Center in 1877 
won ninety- two seats in the election for the Reichstag; so 
he decided to "go to Canossa." He promptly deserted 
his Liberal friends and began to make overtures to his 

1 The Italian town where, in the eleventh century, the Emperor Henry IV 
humiliated himself before Pope Gregory VII. 



292 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

erstwhile enemies. In 1878 a new Pope, Leo XIII, was 
elected, who was' more moderate in his views than his prede- 
cessor, Pius IX. Bismarck offered terms of peace to the 
Church which were accepted, and a new Government coali- 
tion was formed in the Reichstag, this time of the Cen- 
ter and Conservative Parties. Between 1878 and 1887 
nearly all the "May Laws" were repealed; those that con- 
tinued in force were the anti-Jesuit and civil marriage laws. 

If the "black international," as Catholicism was called, 
was considered a danger to German unity, the "red inter- 
The Social- national," or socialism, was looked upon as its 
1S ounced b open and avowed enemy. The few Socialists in 
Bismarck the Parliament of the North-German Confedera- 
tion had voted against the Franco- Prussian War and had 
denounced the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. After 1870 
the newly formed Social Democratic Party bitterly opposed 
the Bismarckian order and openly favored the establish- 
ment of a democratic republic. It was the internationalism 
of the Socialists, even more than their democracy, that 
aroused Bismarck's ire, and he denounced them as men 
"without a country" and as "enemies of the Empire." He 
believed that the Socialists were aiming to alienate the 
working class from the Fatherland, threatening the unity 
of the Empire as well as the social order. Bismarck, there- 
fore, determined to crush them without mercy. 

The sought-for opportunity came in 1878, when two at- 
tempts were made on the life of the aged and beloved Em- 
Anti-Social- peror William by men who were known to be 
1st laws Socialists. The Reichstag passed a series of 

"exceptional laws" against "the publicly dangerous en- 
deavors of Social Democracy," prohibiting the formation or 
existence of all associations, meetings, or publications which 
sought to subvert the existing system of society and govern- 
ment. Large powers were given to the police to be exercised 
against the Socialists, who were now in a state of semi-out- 
lawry. Their meetings were prohibited and their leaders 
arrested on the slightest pretexts, often on the charge of Use 
majeste. Owners of assembly halls were forbidden to rent 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 293 

them for Socialist meetings. Socialist publications were con- 
stantly suppressed, their funds confiscated, and their editors 
fined or jailed. A state of minor siege might be proclaimed 
in any town where Socialists were numerous and influential, 
so that those arrested might be tried by martial law. 

For about a decade these "exceptional laws" remained in 
force, but Socialist agitation continued in spite of them. It 
was merely driven underground. Secret associa- Futility of 
tions were formed that carried on a far more vig- these laws 
orous propaganda than heretofore. Socialist papers de- 
veloped an art of communicating their ideas "between the 
lines" in order not to give sufficient cause for court pro- 
ceedings. Branches of the Social Democratic Party would 
organize as bowling and singing clubs in order to avoid 
police interference. Conventions of the party would meet 
in Switzerland, where they used the freedom of speech per- 
mitted in that country to denounce the reactionary policy 
of Bismarck. The Socialist Party grew in spite of, or rather 
because of, persecution. 1 In the election of 1890 it received 
about a million and a half votes and captured thirty-five 
seats in the Reichstag. The Government saw the futility 
of the repressive measures, and in 1890, the year of Bis- 
marck's retirement, the "exceptional laws" were not re- 
newed. Once more Bismarck was beaten. And yet his 
scheme of constructive social legislation, 2 which was enacted 
during the period of Socialist persecution, produced a far- 
reaching effect upon the attitude of the working classes 
toward the Empire. There began a steady growth of a 
moderate sentiment among the Socialists, whose revolu- 
tionary ideas were transformed into demands for reform, 
and whose emphasis on internationalism grew fainter and 
fainter. 

Germany has been the pioneer of the most modern forms 
of social legislation. With rare insight Bismarck discerned 
the true nature of industrial society and its effect upon the 

1 In one election only, that of 1881, was there a marked falling off of the 
Socialist vote. See p. 589. 

2 See pp. 295 ff. 



294 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

working classes. He regarded the policy of laissez faire as 
Bismarck fraught with great danger to society and to the 
°e?fair S e la * S ' State, because it produced an unbridled capital- 
policies ism intent upon its own interests only and a 
sullen working class alienated from the State which it re- 
garded as ' an enemy. The great Chancellor determined 
to avoid such an outcome in Germany at all costs, for a 
healthy, contented working class was to him the surest 
guarantee of social peace and national power. 

According to Bismarck, it was the duty of a Christian 
State, as the sole representative of all the elements in the 
„. nation, to look after its unprotected members, 

His reasons r 

for social "that they may not be run over and trampled 
egis a ion unc j er f ot on the highway of life." He was not at 
any time, however, opposed to the interests of the employers. 
" I am not antagonistic to the rightful claims of capital," he 
declared ; " I am far from wanting to flaunt a hostile flag; but 
I am of the opinion that the masses, too, have rights which 
should be considered." What was necessary, according to 
him, was "to add a few drops of social oil" in the recipe for 
the health of the State if it desired to be regarded as a 
friend, not as an enemy, by the lower classes. This idea is 
forcefully and clearly enunciated in the preamble to the Sick- 
ness Insurance Law. "That the State should interest itself 
to a greater degree than hitherto in those of its members who 
need assistance is not only a duty of humanity and Chris- 
tianity . . . but an object of state-preserving policy. It 
should be our aim to spread the idea, particularly among the 
non-propertied classes, who form at once the most numerous 
and the least instructed part of the population, that the 
State is not merely a necessary but a beneficent institution. 
If direct benefits are secured to these classes by legislation, 
they will not regard the State as a contrivance for the bene- 
fit of the better classes, but as an institution serving their 
own needs and interests." 

As we have already seen, the rapid growth of socialism 
frightened Bismarck, who saw in this revolutionary move- 
ment a danger to the united Fatherland, for the Socialists 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 295 

claimed to be internationalists, owing no allegiance to any 
particular country and therefore flouting the Social legis- 
ideal of patriotism. He was convinced that social Iati ° n would 
legislation would result in making the working- workingmen 
men more contented and therefore less inclined P atnotlc 
to support revolutionary parties. "Give the workingman 
the right to employment as long as he has health," he 
once told the Reichstag, " assure him care when he is sick, 
and maintenance when he is old, . . . then these gentlemen 
[the Socialists] will sound their bird call in vain. Thronging 
to them will cease as soon as the workingmen realize that 
the Government is earnestly concerned in their welfare." 
The cry, raised by the middle-class Liberals, that laws for 
the benefit of the working classes constitute socialism, did 
not disturb Bismarck. "If you believe that you can frighten 
any one or call up specters with the word 'socialism,' you 
take an attitude which I have abandoned long ago," he 
once told an opponent. 

The reforms of Stein and Hardenberg in 18 14, emanci- 
pating the peasantry by royal edict, constituted a great 
Prussian tradition, and the Hohenzollern family Precedent of 
was proud of its paternalism, or its interest in the Hardenberg 
condition of the lower classes. "In Prussia," reforms 
once declared Bismarck, "it is the kings, not the people, 
who make revolutions." Why, then, should not the Govern- 
ment improve the condition of the new poor man, the fac- 
tory laborer, as it once had improved that of the other poor 
man, the peasant? Moreover, the ideal of an efficient nation 
would be greatly advanced by social legislation, for a healthy 
working class would make better soldiers, better citizens, 
and even better workingmen, and so advance the inter- 
ests of the employers themselves as well as those of the 
State. 

Three great social reform measures were enacted by the 
Imperial Government, (1) the Sickness Insurance Law of 
1883, (2) the Accident Insurance Law of 1884, The social 
and (3) the Old-Age and Invalidity Law of 1889. reform laws 
Later, in 191 1, these acts were unified in a social insur- 



296 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ance code of about two thousand articles, which constitutes 
the most comprehensive effort yet made by any modern 
state for the amelioration of the lot of the working classes. 
The social legislation of other countries, particularly that of 
England, has been largely enacted upon the German model. 
These laws added a new luster to Bismarck's renown; he 
was now considered the greatest social reformer, as well as 
the greatest diplomat, of his age. In the Reichstag the insur- 
ance laws were carried by a combination of the Conserva- 
tives, who took Bismarck's point of view, and the Center, 
who believed that it was the duty of a Christian state to 
alleviate the sufferings of the poor. Opposed to them were 
the Liberals, who believed in the doctrine of laissez faire 
and, therefore, decried the interference of the State in indus- 
trial life as "socialism"; and, curiously enough, the So- 
cialists, who feared "the Greeks bearing gifts" to the 
workingman. 

Sickness insurance is compulsory for all laborers whose 
wages are less than five hundred dollars a year. The fund 
Sickness from which benefits are drawn is made up of 
insurance contributions by the employers and working- 
men in the proportion of one third from the former to two 
thirds from the latter. The benefits go entirely to the work- 
ingman, who, in case of sickness, receives one half of his 
wages for a period of twenty-six weeks and free medical at- 
tendance including medicines. In case of death, the expense 
of the funeral is paid from the same source. The funds are 
administered by a commission composed of representatives 
of employers and employees. In 19 13 there were about 
fourteen and a half million men and women insured against 
sickness, and they received about one hundred and seven 
million dollars in benefits. 

Accident insurance was made compulsory for nearly all 
workers employed in industry. The funds are made up en- 
Accident tirely by the employers, who contribute accord- 
insurance j n g to t k e num b er of their employees and ac- 
cording to the degree of risk in their trade. The administra- 
tion of the funds is in the hands of the employers, but the 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 297 

scale of compensation to injured workingmen is determined 
by law according to the degree of injury sustained by the 
latter in the course of their employment. In addition, those 
that are insured against sickness receive the regular sick- 
ness benefit for thirteen weeks. In case of death, the de- 
pendents of the worker receive an annual pension of twenty 
per cent of his wages. The number of those insured un- 
der this law in 1913 was about twenty-six million, and 
they received in benefits over fifty-one million dollars. 

Old-age and invalidity * insurance was made compulsory 
for laborers who earn less than four hundred dollars a year. 
This fund is made up of contributions by the em- old-age and 
ployers, the workingmen, and the State, and is invalidity 

... , "ii rr • 1 \ 1 insurance 

administered entirely by state officials. At the 
age of seventy, 2 the insured receives a pension, the amount 
of which varies according to the contributions which he has 
made. These pensions are small, ranging from about thirty 
to sixty dollars a year. In 1913 the number of those insured 
under this law was about sixteen and a half million, and 
they received in benefits about fifty-two million dollars. 

Great objection was at first raised by employers to these 
insurance laws, which they considered a burden upon indus- 
try, hampering them in competing with foreign s uccess f 
manufacturers, who then had no such burden. the insur - 

1111 <• /~> «i ance laws 

But the remarkable advance of German industry 
convinced them that social insurance, instead of being a 
handicap, was actually an advantage because of the in- 
creased efficiency of the workers. Now all parties in Germany 
heartily favor such legislation and even advocate a wide ex- 
tension of the system. 

Economic Progress 

Germany's rise in the economic world has been as phe- 
nomenal as her rise in the political world. Even during the 
middle of the nineteenth century, two generations after the 

1 By invalidity is meant total or partial incapacity to work because of dis- 
ablement for any reason. An invalidity pension is given by the Government 
to the workingman after his twenty-six weeks of sickness benefit. 

2 In 1915 the age limit was lowered to sixty-five. 



298 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Industrial Revolution had taken place in England, Ger- 
Industrial many was still largely a ''peasant land," as only 
ness k of a Ger- tmrt Y P er cent of her population then lived in 
many towns of over two thousand. Few factories 

existed ; hence there was practically no export of manufac- 
tured articles. It was a poor country, inhabited by a frugal, 
hardworking people devoted to agriculture and to the 




handicrafts. At that time the Germans were said to be un- 
practical, inefficient, and lacking in business enterprise, a 
"nation of poets and thinkers" whose empire was "in the 
clouds." 

Hardly a country in Europe presented a less inviting field 
for economic development than Germany. Her soil was 
generally poor, her rivers shallow, her harbors few, and her 
deposits of coal and iron were so inferior in quality that little 
mining was done. 1 In order to engage in manufacturing, 

1 As late as i860 only twelve million tons of coal and half a million tons of 
pig iron were produced in Germany. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 299 

the raw materials had to be assembled from widely sep- 
arated districts, and means of communication were inade- 
quate ; * moreover, the long distance to the seaboard from 
the manufacturing regions was a serious handicap to over- 
seas trade. 

Shortly after 1870 a startling change took place. In an 
incredibly short period Germany was transformed from a 
"peasant land" to a highly developed industrial industrial 
nation. The population in 1870 was about forty ris e of Ger- 

.,,. . .... . .. many 

million; in 19 14 it had risen to sixty-seven mil- 
lion, of which fully sixty per cent lived in large cities and 
were engaged in industrial and commercial pursuits. 2 The 
period 1870-75 is known in Germany as the Gr under jdhre, 
or "foundation years," as during these five years the 
amount of capital invested in industry was extraordinarily 
large for that day. Once the impetus was given, there 
seemed to be no limit to Germany's mounting prosperity. 
The products of her factories and workshops invaded the 
markets of the world and the legend "Made in Germany" 
became the symbol of commercial success. Inside of a 
generation Germany leaped to the side of England as an 
industrial nation and challenged this long-established "work- 
shop of the world" for economic leadership. 

The industrial sections of Germany are in the west and in 
the south where are found large deposits of coal and iron, 
the twin pillars of modern industry. In the Coal and 
Rhineland, Westphalia, Silesia, and the Saar iron 
region near the Vosges are the great coal fields. Enormous 
quantities of iron ore are found in Lorraine, which supplies 
three fourths of all the iron used in Germany. 3 For a long 

1 In 1840 there were only three hundred and fifty miles of railway in all 
Germany. 

2 There began a Landflucht, or exodus from the land, as millions of peasants 
moved to the cities. In 1870 there were only eight cities of over one hundred 
thousand people; in 1910 there were forty-seven. In 1870 the rural popula- 
tion was sixty-four per cent; by 1907 it had sunk to about thirty-three per 
cent. 

3 In 1913 Germany produced over 306,000,000 tons of coal and lignite, more 
than seven times the quantity in 187 1, which gave her third rank as a coal- 
producing country. 



300 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

time the iron ore of Lorraine was considered useless, as it 
contained a large amount of sulphur; but the "Thomas 
process" of burning out the sulphur in iron, invented in 
1878, made these deposits of great value. This process also 
produces a by-product, a "slag," which is useful as a soil 
fertilizer. Germany immediately advanced as a producer 
of iron, so that by 1903 she passed England and is now 
the second iron-producing country in the world, 1 ranking 
after the United States. In the production of steel there was 
a similar rise. From 1890 to 19 10 the German steel industry 
grew seven times as fast as that of England in point of pro- 
duction; and in 1912 Germany's product doubled that of 
England. The world-renowned Krupp Works at Essen 
manufacture not only munitions of war but also steel ma- 
terials for railways, ships, and factories. Germany's export 
of machinery in 1908 was about half that of England, but 
five years later she completely outdistanced her rival. 2 

Thirty years ago German ships were built in England. 
To-day Germany builds not only her own vessels but many 
_, . . for other countries. She has developed an im- 

Shipping , . .... 

portant merchant marine, which in 191 3 
showed a net tonnage of 3,154,000, nearly all new vessels 
using steam power. Two of the largest steamship com- 
panies in the world are the Hamburg-American and the 
North-German Lloyd, whose magnificent liners carry about 
one half of the passengers between Europe and America. 
However, England's shipping is still far in the lead, partic- 
ularly in the "tramp steamers," which have no definite time 
schedule: in 1914 the English tonnage all told was about 
seven times that of Germany. 

Two typical German industries are the electrical and the 
The elec- chemical, the extraordinary growth of which is 
chemicaHn largely due to the excellent technical schools of 
dustries Germany. Most of the electrified railways in 

Europe were built with German apparatus. Germany easily 

1 In 1913 Germany produced 19,292,000 tons of pig iron, almost sixteen 
times that of 1870. 

2 In 1887 Germany exported $13,200,000 worth of machinery; in 1912 the 
value of this export was $157,600,000. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 301 

leads the world in the manufacture of chemical products. 
The manufacture of dye-stuffs, a branch of the chemical 
industry, is largely in German hands. In 1914 Germany 
supplied four fifths of the world's demand. 1 German chem- 
ists have, in a way, abolished the tropics, for they have 
discovered processes for making artificial indigo, musk, va- 
nilla, and camphor, which are exported in large quantities. 

The annexation of Alsace-Lorraine gave an impetus to 
the German textile industries as well as to the production 
of coal and iron. Alsace and Saxony are the cot- . 

ton manufacturing centers of the Empire, but 
they are not sufficiently developed to make Germany a 
great textile-producing nation, her annual production be- 
ing only a fifth of that of England. 

Although German industrial development has been most 
wonderful, it has not been, as in the case of England, at the 
expense of agriculture. Germany's economic Scientific 
ideal has been a harmonious development of all a g nculture 
her resources, and she has been as careful to protect and 
develop her agriculture as she has been to protect and de- 
velop her manufacturing industries. This was accomplished 
in two ways : by protective tariffs and by scientific farming. 
In spite of the outcry raised by the city dwellers against 
the high duties on agricultural products which were partly 
responsible for the constantly increasing cost of living, 
Germany refused to follow England's free- trade example; 
hence German agriculture was saved from possible ruin by 
foreign competition. Scientific farming has accomplished 
wonders for German agriculture. By a careful system of 
manuring, nursing, and soil preparation, the yearly harvest 
has enormously increased despite the constantly diminish- 
ing number of people engaged in farming. 2 The cultivation 

1 The value of the annual export of dye-stuffs from Germany was put at 
about $25,000,000. 

2 Between 1885 and 1910 the grain crop increased forty-five per cent and the 
potato crop fifty-five per cent. In 1913 Germany was the leading potato- 
producing country in the world, having grown fifty-four millions of tons, or 
fourteen times as much as Russia, although the latter had three times as much 
land under potato cultivation. 



302 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of the sugar beet has been greatly developed. By careful 
planting and selection, the German beet was made to in- 
crease very largely its yield of sugar, so that from 1880 to 
1910 the amount of sugar produced in Germany rose from 
half a million to over two million tons a year. The chief 
farming regions are East Prussia, where the system of large 
estates obtains, and Bavaria, where the land is largely cul- 
tivated by peasant proprietors. 

Although the home market is rapidly increasing, foreign 
trade has become a necessity for Germany, as she must needs 
Foreign manufacture more and more in order to feed 

trade her growing population. She must import huge 

quantities of raw material, make it over into goods, and 
send the surplus to the world in return for food ; hence great 
efforts were made to expand Germany's foreign trade and 
with signal success. In 1870 her total foreign trade was 
about a billion dollars; in 1913 it rose to over five billions, of 
which nearly all the imports were food and raw material and 
nearly all the exports manufactured articles. Steadily Ger- 
many has been lessening the disparity which exists between 
her foreign trade and that of England, whose trade has not 
increased at the same rate as that of her rival across the 
North Sea. l This has given rise to a commercial rivalry be- 
tween the two nations which has been going on with ever- 
increasing bitterness. 

There are many causes for Germany's astounding indus- 
trial development. First and foremost is the unification of 
Reasons for the country, which united the energies of a highly 
Germany's capable people and gave them unbounded confi- 

prospenty: .... T . • i i 1 

(1) National dence in their powers. It is said that on the sur- 
umty render of Metz, Prince Frederick Charles made 

the following statement: "We have just conquered in the 
military sphere; our task is now to fight and conquer in 
the industrial sphere." The large indemnity collected from 
France and the natural resources of Alsace-Lorraine, now 
a part of Germany, were highly important factors in the 
latter's economic advance. 

1 See p. 369. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 303 

The Germans have been pioneers in the application of 
science to industry. Germany is literally covered with 
chemical laboratories, wherein an army of highly (2) Applica- 
trained scientists are constantly at work invent- ence to tot- 
ing new processes and devising new methods, dustry 
with the result that articles produced in Germany are 
cheaper than those produced elsewhere. This union of labo- 
ratory and workshop has been an efficient cause of German 
prosperity, as it enlisted trained intelligence to solve the 
problems of industry. German business men will spare no 
expense in providing for scientific experiments, well knowing 
that, in time, they will be amply rewarded. German labor- 
ers, even those doing the simplest work, are highly skilled, 
due to the numerous and excellent technical schools that 
prepare men and women for their vocations in life. 

Slow and plodding, the Germans work with intense en- 
ergy if without feverish excitement. They are patient and 
methodical, and they have developed a most , .__ . 

t r rr • • (3) Efficiency 

extraordinary genius lor efficient organization, 
or the art of putting every man in his place and of getting 
the most out of him. Business is a career in Germany for 
which men prepare themselves as carefully as for a profes- 
sion, studying in excellent commercial schools the various 
aspects of commerce and industry in general and their spe- 
cial branch in particular. A striking characteristic of German 
business men is their freedom from tradition ; they are en- 
terprising and will readily change their system in order to 
conquer a market. New methods and new goods are eagerly 
sought for and quickly adopted if they are found good. 
They are also ready to cooperate for mutual advantage. 
Frequently several German firms combine to hire a trained 
and experienced commercial traveler, who is sent to distant 
lands to open new markets for German wares. German 
commercial travelers learn the language of their prospective 
customers, their likes, and their dislikes ; and they endeavor 
to please them in every possible way. Time and again have 
the Germans captured the trade in certain articles by pay- 
ing special attention to little things, such as the color of a 



304 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

garment, the shape of an egg cup, or the method of packing 
needles. German firms sell their goods cheaply and on long 
credit; they are enabled to do this partly because they are 
careful to keep down the cost of production and partly be- 
cause they are satisfied with small profits. 

Germany's late entrance into the field of modern industry 
proved to be not a handicap but a positive advantage in her 

(4) Adop- struggle for economic supremacy. Instead of 
tion of the going by rule of thumb along an unknown path, 

most im- , r • , , • r t . 

proved she, profiting by the experience 01 other nations, 

methods especially by that of England, carefully planned 
and directed her economic development. She avoided their 
mistakes and improved on their successes, so that the many 
problems arising from the Industrial Revolution were solved 
before they had become serious enough to become obstacles 
to social betterment and to business enterprise. It was 
easier for Germany to adopt the most improved machinery 
and the most modern methods, as she had no old plants to 
dismantle and no cherished business traditions to violate. 

The Government of the Empire has been a most impor- 
tant factor in the economic advance of Germany. Her great 

(5) Favor- international position as a military and naval 
merciai m " power has been very effective in securing corn- 
treaties mercial treaties favorable to German merchants 
and in compelling concessions to German capitalists in Asia 
and Africa. The Empire decided on a policy of protection 
in order to avoid the possible hindrance to German industry 
through foreign competition. Bismarck, who had been a 
free-trader, was convinced that high tariff duties were now 
needed to protect the large and rapidly growing home mar- 
ket. Free trade, he declared, was the "weapon of the strong- 
est" and a good policy for England, who was now "a mighty 
industrial athlete" capable of competing successfully in the 
world; but for Germany protection was necessary, as she 
was as yet industrially weak and therefore unable to stand 
foreign competition. In 1880 a high protective tariff was 
adopted which has since been maintained and applied with 
great intelligence and knowledge by a tariff commission 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 305 

composed of economists, business men, and government 
officials. 

Government regulation has been an important cause of 
Germany's prosperity. There is hardly a business enter- 
prise which does not feel the regulating hand of , 6 n Govem- 
the Government ; and it is done, not with the me . n t regu- 
idea of hampering but of promoting business. 
Almost from the beginning of the Empire the railways were 
nationalized for military reasons, that troops might be 
transported rapidly to all corners of the land. The railways 
are owned and operated by the individual states, but are 
supervised by an Imperial Railway Board which establishes 
uniform regulations for the entire Empire. State ownership 
of railways has proved a brilliant success in Germany; the 
management is economical and efficient, fares are low, the 
equipment is good, and the service, excellent. The State 
Governments make large profits from their railways, which 
enables them to undertake many things without resorting to 
new taxes. 1 But most important of all is the way the rail- 
ways have been used to build up German commerce and 
industry. Especially low rates are allowed on export goods 
in order to enable the German manufacturer better to com- 
pete in foreign markets. If a new industry is to be started, 
the rates on the raw material coming from distant parts are 
lowered in order to encourage the enterprise. Material help 
was in this way given to the building of a merchant marine; 
for low freight rates were allowed on the materials which 
came to the shipyards from all over Germany. Many times 
the evil effects of bad harvests were minimized and many 
farmers saved from ruin by the lowering of freight rates 
on agricultural products. Rebating in Germany is open and 
legal, as fully sixty per cent of the entire railway traffic is 
under "exceptional rates"; but this is done for the purpose 
of helping, not of destroying, business enterprises. The 
Government has built a wonderful system of canals connect- 
ing the various rivers, so that inland transportation is cheap 

1 In 191 1 Prussia made $178,000,000 profit from her railways, which was 
double the amount that she collected in taxes for that year. 



306 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

and easy. Vast sums have been spent in deepening the shal- 
low German rivers in order to make them more navigable. 1 

Results of the Industrial Revolution 

The results of the Industrial Revolution were in general 

the same in Germany as in other lands. 2 But there were 

Laissezfaire noteworthy features, peculiar to that country, 

ideals not which it is important for us to note. The as- 
dominant .. ... . . . ... 

tounding rapidity of the transformation left a 

marked impression on the German people, for it was almost 
a flying leap from the economy of the eighteenth century to 
that of the twentieth. For this reason Germany, unlike 
England, largely missed the early forms of capitalistic soci- 
ety, with its keen competition in business, individualism in 
philosophy, and laissez faire in politics. Cooperation, regu- 
lation, and efficiency became the watchwords of this " na- 
tion of poets and thinkers," now become a nation of business 
men and soldiers. 

The German working class which made its appearance 
was not merely democratic, as was that of England and 
Dominant France during the early part of the nineteenth 
the'landed century; it was socialistic, and therefore op- 
aristocracy posed, in theory at least, to the very existence of 
the capitalistic system. The German middle classes, on the 
other hand, have not been liberal like those in England, or 
revolutionary like those in France, for in spite of their pro- 
fessed belief in democracy they have consistently supported 
the autocratic regime, because the latter encouraged busi- 
ness enterprise from which they profited, and kept down the 
Socialists of whom they stood in deadly fear. Hence Ger- 
many, a modern, highly industrialized nation, has been 
ruled by a privileged landed aristocracy, which officers the 
army and navy, fills most of the important positions in the 
Government, and directs the policies of the country, largely 
to suit its class interests. In spite of their great wealth the 

1 The Main River, at one time only two and three quarters feet deep, was 
deepened to eight and one quarter feet. 

2 See p. 34. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 307 

"chimney aristocrats," as the capitalists are called in Ger- 
many, occupy a subordinate position in the State, greatly 
to their chagrin. 

From a land of emigration, Germany has become one of 
immigration. Before the new industrial era Germans emi- 
grated at the rate of two hundred thousand a Emigration 
year; 1 but since then, in spite of a yearly in- and immi- 
crease of eight hundred thousand, German in- 
dustry has been able to provide work for so many that 
emigration has sunk to about twenty thousand annually. 
Every year about half a million foreign workingmen, mainly 
from Italy, Austria, and Russia, come into Germany to 
help harvest the crops and to work in the mines. These 
immigrant laborers are permitted to remain under special 
conditions and for a specified time in order to prevent them 
from competing with the native laborers. 

Unfortunately for Germany, she came into existence as a 
nation when the best parts of the world had already been 
parceled out among the other nations. Of what was left 
she got her share, which was almost entirely in the hot, 
unhealthy regions of Africa which were unfit for white set- 
tlement. 2 She therefore turned her attention to the estab- 
lishment of an economic empire. German capital began to 
invade foreign countries and to make invisible conquests. 
Through the influence of the Government, concessions were 
granted to German capitalists, who began to build railways, 
to open mines, and to establish factories in Asia, Africa, and 
South America. Even the countries of Europe felt the influ- 
ence of German investors, for some of the largest industrial 
and financial establishments in France, Italy, Russia, and 
Turkey came under their control. This economic penetra- 
tion of foreign countries made Germany's influence greatly 
felt the world over, but it did not satisfy her longing to 
expand in territory. 

1 During the period 1851 to 1895 four and a half millions of Germans emi- 
grated, most of them to America. 

2 See p. 679. 



308 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Reign of William II 

On March 9, 1888, the aged Emperor William I died. His 
son and successor, Frederick III, was known to be a liberal 
„ T .„. TT and an admirer of the English system of govern- 

William II 11. r TT ,. 

ment, but he lived only a few months. He died 
on June 15 of the same year, and was succeeded by his son, 
William II, a young man twenty-nine years of age. No 
monarch of recent times has been more widely known than 
Emperor William. A man of versatile talents, great culti- 
vation, and charming personality, he succeeded in gaining 
wide popularity. Like his predecessor, Frederick William IV, 
he is a brilliant orator and is fond of making speeches on any 
and every occasion and on any and every subject. He will 
lecture learned bodies on archaeology, dispute points in the- 
ology with theologians, advise artists how to paint, and 
recommend courses in the teaching of history. The Emperor 
has frequently taken occasion to discuss his political views 
boldly and freely, and he has been nicknamed "William the 
Indiscreet," because of his sensational sayings and doings. 
When the Boers defeated the Jameson raiders, 1 he sent 
a telegram of congratulation to President Kruger which 
aroused the British to furious indignation. In 1908 he gave 
an interview to the London Daily Telegraph in which he 
asserted his sincere friendliness for England, but admitted 
that the mass of his people were hostile to the English. This 
time the Germans were aroused to fury, and a unanimous 
Reichstag passed a chiding resolution which declared that 
the Emperor should henceforth speak on political matters 
through the mouth of his Chancellor only. 

In William's speeches two subjects are continually re- 
ferred to, namely, the army and religion. On numerous 
His claim to occas i° ns ne nas exalted the army as the foun- 
" divine dation stone of Germany. Addressing a body of 

recruits in 1891 he declared, "You are now my 
soldiers; you have given yourselves to me body and soul. 
There is now but one enemy for you and that is my enemy." 
Not even in the twentieth century has he relinquished the 

1 See p. 416. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 309 

outworn theory of divine right, according to which he claims 
to rule as King of Prussia. In 1910 Emperor William de- 
clared in a public address that his "grandfather in his own 
right placed the Crown upon his head, insisting once again 
that it was bestowed upon him by the grace of God alone, 
and not by parliaments or by the will of the people. . . . 
I too consider myself a chosen instrument of Heaven, and 
I shall go my way without regard to the views and opinions 
of the day." 

There is another and truly modern side to Emperor Wil- 
liam. In spite of his outworn ideals of "divine right" and 
of his romantic temperament, he is keenly aware His progres- 
of the new industrial spirit stirring within Ger- sive attitude 
many, and he has done much to foster it. Around him 
have gathered the new "chimney aristocrats," the lords of 
mines, factories, ships, and banks, who have had a powerful 
influence in shaping the policies of the Empire. 

Bismarck, who had once prophesied that William would 
be his own Chancellor, soon came into conflict with his 
master. The Emperor resented the overshadow- Dismissal 
ing importance and complete dominance of Ger- of Bismarck 
man politics by the veteran statesman ; and he was unwill- 
ing to follow his grandfather's course of allowing Bismarck 
to rule while he reigned. Germany was too small to hold two 
such self-willed autocrats. Moreover, it was felt by the ris- 
ing generation that Bismarck's work was now over, because 
his main policy as Chancellor was to conserve what had been 
gained in 1870, and he would therefore be a great obstacle in 
the path of the new Germany that was about to be launched. 
Accordingly, the Emperor determined to "drop the pilot." 
In 1890 the Iron Chancellor was dismissed, and he retired to 
private life full of humiliation and bitterness. He spent his 
remaining days writing his memoirs and inspiring malicious 
articles against the Emperor, whom he secretly distrusted as 
hot-headed and flighty. In 1898 the "faithful servant of 
Emperor William I" 1 died, and the entire nation was 
plunged into great grief. 

1 This is the inscription on Bismarck's tomb placed there at his request. 



310 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

A new era of conciliation opened with William IFs reign. 
The "exceptional laws" against the Socialists were not re- 
„ r .„. TI newed and some of the remaining anti-Catholic 

William II ° 

and the So- laws were repealed. The Emperor early evinced 
a special interest in the welfare of the working 
classes, and the social insurance laws of Bismarck were 
extended with the idea of killing socialism with kindness. 
Finding, however, that in spite of these laws the Social Dem- 
ocrats were increasing, he became deeply resentful and took 
every opportunity to denounce them as "unworthy to bear 
the name of Germans," and as "vermin which gnaw at the 
roots of the Imperial oak." In the address to the recruits 
above referred to, the Emperor declared, " In the presence 
of the Socialist agitation it may happen, though may God 
avert it ! that I shall order you to shoot down your relatives, 
brothers, yea, even parents; yet you must obey my com- 
mands without murmuring." 

It became evident that William would be his own Chan- 
cellor; hence any one that he chose for that office would 
The tariff merely be his mouthpiece. As successor to Bis- 
agitation marck he appointed, in 1890, Count von Caprivi, 
a soldier by profession and instinct, who had only one rule, 
to obey his master, the Kaiser. It was during Caprivi's 
chancellorship that a sharp demand arose from the middle 
and working classes for lowering or abolishing the tariff on 
foodstuffs, in order that cheaper food might be imported. 
Germany, they contended, was no longer an agricultural but 
an industrial state; hence industrial interests should be para- 
mount. Caprivi signed reciprocity treaties with Russia, 
Austria, and Italy, which materially reduced the tariff on 
foodstuffs coming from these countries. This aroused the 
powerful landed interests who, in 1893, organized an asso- 
ciation called the Bund der Landwirte, or League of Land- 
lords, which began an agitation against the renewal of these 
treaties which, they claimed, were ruining agriculture and 
thereby lessening the food supply of the nation. By a re- 
vision of the tariff in 1902 the landed interests succeeded 
in restoring the high duties on agricultural products. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 311 

Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingfiirst succeeded Caprivi as 
Chancellor in 1894. But he, too, was merely a mouthpiece 
for his master. In 1900 Count Bernhard von Bernhard 
Biilow, an adroit diplomat, clever speaker, and von Bulow 
skillful parliamentarian, became Chancellor. Although 
Biilow was always in perfect accord with the views of the 
Emperor, he was far too able a man to be merely his mouth- 
piece; he consequently exercised great influence on the poli- 
cies of the Government. During the first years of his chan- 
cellorship, he was always fully supported in the Reichstag 
by the Conservatives and the Center and, occasionally, by 
the Liberals on "national" questions, that is, those affecting 
the army, the navy, and foreign affairs. The only party that 
consistently opposed him was the Social Democrats. 

A decided change took place in Germany's foreign policy 
almost from the beginning of the new reign. Bismarck's 
policy of "satiation" no longer satisfied the am- The new for- 
bitious, exuberant Germany of Emperor William, eign P° lic y 
which wished to become a world Power and play a leading 
role in Weltpolitik. A veritable hunger for foreign markets 
took possession of Germany, whose expanding industry was 
ever pushing her onward to newer economic conquests. She 
began to demand "a place in the sun," or a colonial empire, 
in order to find new sources of raw material for her factories 
and an outlet for her surplus population. "The wave-beat 
knocks powerfully at our national gates, and calls us as a 
great nation to maintain our place in the world, in other 
words, to follow world policy," once declared the Emperor 
in a widely quoted address. Germany's territorial ambitions 
were centered in Morocco, the only desirable part of Africa 
not yet acquired by a European Power; but in this she en- 
countered the bitter opposition of France, who also desired 
to annex the country. 1 Her economic ambitions were cen- 
tered in Asia Minor, a fertile but undeveloped region; and 
through the influence of the Imperial Government the Sul- 
tan granted concessions to groups of German capitalists, 
who began building the Bagdad Railway; but this project 

1 For further discussion of the Morocco question see p. 700. 



312 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

encountered the active hostility of Great Britain when it 
was proposed to extend the railway to the Persian Gulf. 1 

The good understanding with Russia, long maintained by 
Bismarck, terminated when the latter retired from public 
life. Germany began to draw more closely to 
Austria, for Russia and France were cementing 
their alliance and Italy's interest in the Triple Alliance was 
becoming lukewarm. William at first endeavored to bring 
about a rapprochement with France in order to isolate Eng- 
land, but he failed; instead, a rapprochement took place be- 
tween England and France which ended in the Entente 
cordiale, and Germany was isolated. 2 

To the Emperor's initiative was due the creation of a Ger- 
man navy. He was thoroughly convinced that Germany's 
The navy rapidly growing merchant marine and world- 
law wide economic interests needed a great fleet for 

their protection in case of war. The idea was also present 
in the minds of the ruling classes of Germany that a power- 
ful navy was the best means of gaining and holding oversea 
possessions, just as a powerful army was the best means of 
defending the country from invasion. In a series of eloquent 
speeches the Emperor emphasized Germany's need of a 
navy in order to maintain her position as a world Power. 
"World power and sea power are complementary; the one 
cannot exist without the other," he declared. "Our future 
lies on the water," and "The trident must pass into our 
hands," are two of his oft-quoted sayings. Navy leagues 
were founded under the patronage of the Emperor, which 
began a persistent and enthusiastic propaganda in favor of a 
large navy. In 1900 the first great navy law was passed by 
the Reichstag. In the preamble to this law the following 
statement occurs: "Germany must possess a fleet of such 
strength that a war against the mightiest naval Power would 
endanger the supremacy of that Power." The building of 
war vessels went on at a rapid rate, so that in a short time 
Germany had the second largest navy in the world, ranking 

1 See p. 702. 

2 For a fuller discussion of Germany 's foreign policies see ch. xxix. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 313 

after England. Under Admiral von Tirpitz, who became 
Secretary of the Navy in 1897, the new German navy was 
splendidly organized on the English model. 1 In 1890 the 
little island of Helgoland, near the entrance to the Kiel 
Canal, was acquired by Germany from Great Britain in 
exchange for parts of Africa. This transaction, made by 
Lord Salisbury, was regarded in England as a good trade, 
an "exchange of a button for a suit of clothes." But Hel- 
goland was quickly fortified by the Germans and became 
the Gibraltar of the North Sea, protecting the Kiel Canal 
which was completed five years later. 

Closely connected with the movement for naval arma- 
ment was the colonial question. In its African possessions 
the Government had much trouble with the Colonial re- 
natives, against whom several expeditions had form 
to be sent. It was charged that the German officials in 
the colonies were guilty of cruelty, and that the adminis- 
tration was corrupt and incompetent. The home Govern- 
ment was obliged to make up large deficits every year. In 
1907 Bernhard Dernburg was appointed to the newly created 
office of Colonial Minister. He was not of aristocratic but of 
middle-class origin, a banker who had become known as an 
able administrator. It was Dernburg's plan to spend large 
additional sums of money on the colonies in order to put 
them on a sound basis so that, in time, they would be an 
asset and not a liability to the mother country. He visited 
Africa several times and made drastic reforms in the admin- 
istration. In 1907 a colonial budget, appropriating money 
for these colonial reforms, was introduced in the Reichstag. 
The Center Party thereupon abandoned the Government 
and joined the Socialists in opposing what was denounced as 
"a colonial adventure," and both parties had enough votes 
to defeat the budget. The Reichstag was dissolved, and the 
election which followed was fought on the colonial issue. 
The Conservatives and Liberals made an appeal for patri- 
otic support on the ground that the two international par- 
ties, the "Blacks" and the " Reds," had combined to oppose 

1 See p. 689. 



314 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

national interests. Great enthusiasm was shown in this 
exciting election in favor of the Government, and the result 
was a signal triumph for the latter. The Socialist represen- 
tation fell from seventy-eight to forty-three members, 1 and 
the Center barely managed to hold its own. A new com- 
bination of Conservatives and Liberals was formed in the 
Reichstag to support Chancellor von Bulow, and the colo- 
nial budget was adopted. 

Problem of the Non-Germans 

Although homogeneous to a remarkable degree Germany, 
nevertheless, contains within its borders non-German ele- 
„,, _, ments that have stubbornly resisted assimilation. 

The Danes . 

Ihe policy ol uncompromising Germanism 
pursued by the Imperial Government has produced bitter 
resentment among the "submerged nations," who wish to 
maintain their own languages and cultures, even though 
they live under the German flag. In Schleswig, acquired 
from Denmark in the war of 1864, the people are predomi- 
nantly Danish, and they have managed to maintain their 
speech and sentiment in spite of the vigorous and systematic 
efforts of the Prussian Government to suppress them. 

Far more serious, however, is the Polish problem. The 
parts acquired by Prussia in the dismemberment of Poland 2 
„,, „ , are still Polish in tradition, language, and senti- 

rhe Poles 

ment. Many Poles are also to be found in East 
Prussia, where they are employed as agricultural laborers, 
and in Westphalia, where they work in the mines. Alto- 
gether there are about four millions of Poles in the Empire, 
and they have tenaciously clung to their nationality. Prus- 
sia, fearful that this alien and hostile element on the frontier 
might prove a danger to the Empire in time of war, has 
made special efforts to Germanize them. In 1886 the Prus- 
sian Landtag, through the influence of Bismarck, appro- 
priated twenty-five million dollars, which was turned over 

1 In spite of the loss of seats the Socialist popular vote showed an actual in- 
crease of two hundred and fifty thousand. This anomaly was due to the unfair 
system of representation. See p. 589. 

2 See p. 503. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 315 

to a Settlement Commission with power to purchase land 
in the Polish regions and resell it to German "colonists," 
who were to be induced to settle there by favorable terms of 
sale. This policy of the Government had for its object to 
permeate the Polish districts with Germans and thereby to 
weaken "Polonism." In addition, drastic laws were passed 
prohibiting the public use of the Polish language; Polish 
historic names were abolished and German names substi- 
tuted for them; the right of public meeting was indirectly 
curtailed by the requirement that all addresses had to be 
in the German tongue; and even theatrical performances in 
Polish were forbidden. 

Between 1886 and 1890 about one hundred and twelve 
thousand acres of Polish land were acquired by Germans 
through the efforts of the Settlement Commis- Struggle 
sion. In 1898, and again in 1902, the Landtag for the land 
voted new funds to continue this policy of Germanization. 
The Poles, frightened at the prospect of being driven from 
their historic home, formed cooperative societies and land 
banks to tide them over in times of financial difficulty, in 
order not to be compelled to sell their farms to the Germans. 
As a result less and less Polish land was sold; in fact, many 
of the German colonists were compelled, through systematic 
boycotting by the Poles, to resell their land to the Poles 
at low prices. German settlers were exhorted on patriotic 
grounds not to resell to Poles, but all to no purpose; and the 
Prussian Government saw the failure of its Polish policy. 

In 1908 came the Dispossession Law, which gave extraor- 
dinary powers to the Settlement Commission. It was now 
empowered to compel the sale of Polish land at The Dispos- 
prices fixed by itself. Germans buying this land session Law 
did so with the understanding that they must not resell it 
to Poles. The laws against the use of the Polish language 
were made more severe. All teaching, even that in private 
schools, had to be in German. When the Polish children in 
the schools refused to answer their teachers in German, they 
were severely punished and their parents and priests fined 
and imprisoned. Many school "strikes" took place. A pop- 



3 i6 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ular cartoon of the day represented a Polish child saying, " If 
I say my prayers in German, my father beats me; if I say 
them in Polish, my teacher beats me; if I don't say them at 
all, my priest beats me." 

An outcry was soon raised by the Poles against the harsh 
policy of the Prussian Government, and their cause gained 
The Reichs- the sympathy of many people the world over. In 
pions^he" tne Reichstag the Poles were supported by their 
Poles co-religionists in the Center Party, and by the 

Socialists, who, on January 30, 1913, combined to pass a 
resolution of "no confidence" in the Imperial Government 
and condemning the Prussian authorities for their attitude 
toward the Poles. This was the first time that a resolution 
of this kind was passed by the Reichstag. 

The problem of the Alsatians is really an international 
one, as their cause is championed by France. Immediately 
The Alsa- after the Franco- Prussian War thousands of 
tians families left Alsace-Lorraine for France rather 

than live under the German flag. In spite of the serious 
international aspect of the problem, Germany determined to 
hold on to these provinces at all costs for two important 
reasons: first, the military necessity of keeping the "gates," 
Metz and Strassburg, closed against possible French inva- 
sion; secondly, the vast deposits of iron found in Lorraine 
are essential to her industrial progress. The Germans 
also claim that the region is Teutonic by race, tradition, and 
language, and hence by right ought to belong to Germany 
and not to France. 

A large number of German settlers came to take the place 
of those who had left. Although the French-speaking pop- 
Suppression Nation is small and lives mainly in Lorraine, 
of French many Alsatians feel a strong attachment for 
France despite the fact that the provinces have 
prospered greatly under German rule. The Government has 
shown itself needlessly severe and very tactless in its efforts 
to stamp out French influences. The use of the French 
language was strictly forbidden in public assemblies and 
limited even in private life. Tombstones must contain no 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 317 

French inscriptions. An Alsatian barber was fined for hav- 
ing on his window the sign "Coiffeur" Societies to keep 
alive French memories were dissolved, and ardent French 
nationalists were imprisoned or exiled on the slightest pre- 
texts. The story is told of an Alsatian who had his body tat- 
tooed with the legend " Vive la France!" and was arrested 
when he appeared in a public bath. The famous "Zabern 
Affair" of 1913 illustrated the strained relations between 
the Alsatians and the German authorities. The military 
officers stationed in the little garrison town of Zabern in 
Alsace had so greatly offended the citizens by their domi- 
neering and insulting attitude, that they were hooted when- 
ever they appeared on the streets. During a disturbance of 
this sort a haughty young lieutenant struck with his sword a 
lame shoemaker who had laughed at him. Great indignation 
was aroused in Germany at the brutal conduct of the officers; 
and, on December 4, 191 3, the Reichstag passed a resolution 
of "no confidence" in the Government because of its sup- 
port of the military. 

The pro-French attitude of German-speaking Alsatians is 
a remarkable tribute to the generous and kindly treatment 
that the provinces had been accorded under Home rule 
France. Thousands of young Alsatians crossed Alsace-Lor- 
the border every year to enlist in the French raine 
army, where they were welcomed with open arms. For 
about forty years the government of Alsace-Lorraine was 
that of a Reichsland, or imperial territory, ruled by a Statt- 
halter, or governor, appointed by the Emperor. The people 
were, however, allowed to elect members to the Reichstag, 
and they sent a "protesting delegation" of about fifteen 
members. In 191 1 the country was deemed sufficiently safe 
to be entrusted with home rule. A constitution was, there- 
fore, granted to Alsace-Lorraine, which provided for a local 
legislature to be elected by universal suffrage, and for a dele- 
gation of three members to the Bundesrat to be chosen by 
the Statthalter, who was to be, as hitherto, an appointee of 
the Emperor. 



318 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Movement for Popular Control 

Ever since the organization of the Empire there has ex- 
isted a movement, supported mainly by Socialists and Radi- 
The question cals, to democratize the government by estab- 
riai m respon- Ashing the principle of ministerial responsibility 
sibility to the Reichstag. If the popular chamber could 

make and unmake a Chancellor, the influence of the Em- 
peror in the Government would be materially lessened. 
During the debate in the Reichstag on the Telegraph inci- 
dent, a Radical member declared: "Our present constitu- 
tional system is in many respects a sham, as it does not fulfill 
the aims of a modern constitutional state. . . . There is no 
doubt that complete responsibility of the cabinet to parlia- 
ment is the very cornerstone of constitutional government." 
Naturally enough, this principle has been vigorously op- 
posed by the ruling powers, for its adoption would make the 
Reichstag the dominant element in the Imperial Govern- 
ment. "A Chancellor dependent only upon the Emperor 
and the King of Prussia," once declared Chancellor von 
Bethmann-Hollweg, "is the necessary counterpoise to the 
freest of electoral laws, devised by Bismarck on the sup- 
position that the Bundesrat and the Imperial Chancellor 
would maintain their independence." 

The first precedent for ministerial responsibility came 
with the resignation of Chancellor von Biilow. The coin- 
Resolution bination of Conservatives and Liberals, formed 
fidence" after the election of 1907, soon split over the 
th SS R d ' b h question of taxation. In order to pay for the 
tag mounting expenditures of the army and navy, 

Biilow included an inheritance tax in the imperial bud- 
get of 1908. The Conservatives refused to support it and 
joined the Center in opposition, with the result that the 
budget was defeated. Shortly afterwards the Chancellor 
resigned, and the Emperor appointed Theobald von Beth- 
mann-Hollweg as his successor. The two resolutions of "no 
confidence," passed by the Reichstag as described above, 
did not lead in either case to the resignation of Chancellor 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 319 

von Bethmann-Hollweg, because he continued to have the 
confidence of the Emperor; at the same time it was univer- 
sally felt in Germany that the unpopularity of the Gov- 
ernment would in time be followed by important conces- 
sions to democracy. 

The new Chancellor had spent his life in the Prussian 
administration, and was known as a conscientious, well- 
informed official, but lacking in originality and The "Blue- 
parliamentary ability. He made peace with the Blacky 
Conservatives and Center, who now united to 
control the Reichstag; this alliance became notorious as the 
"Blue-Black Block," or aristocratic-clerical combination. 
The inheritance tax was withdrawn and, instead, consump- 
tion taxes were laid on tobacco, beer, tea, sugar, brandy, and 
matches, and stamp taxes on checks, notes, and shares of 
stock. It was evident that the agrarian interests, as repre- 
sented by the Block, were using the government to shift 
the burden of taxation on other shoulders. In 1909 the 
Hansabund, or Hanseatic League, was organized with a 
membership of three hundred thousand merchants and 
manufacturers who were determined to oppose the agra- 
rian interests. The Socialists began to recover from their 
defeat of 1907, as nearly every by-election brought in a 
Socialist member. 

The citadel of reaction in Germany is the Prussian three- 
class system; once that falls, it is the common view in Ger- 
many, then the democratization of the Empire Attempts to 
will speedily come. A persistent and powerful j^ree^class 
agitation was therefore set on foot to abolish this system 
system. Huge demonstrations took place in Berlin, in 
which Socialist hosts marched through the streets demand- 
ing a democratic suffrage for Prussia. The ever-growing un- 
popularity of the Government finally induced it to make 
some concessions. On February 10, 1910, Bethmann-Holl- 
weg introduced a bill into the Prussian Landtag which 
slightly modified the three-class system by putting the elec- 
tors of superior education, irrespective of the taxes which 
they paid, into the second class, and by abolishing indirect 



320 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

voting; it retained, however, public voting and the divi- 
sion of the electors into three classes. The Socialists and 
Liberals denounced the measure as inadequate and refused 
to support it; the Conservatives and Center opposed it as 
being too liberal, with the result that the bill was withdrawn. 

Discontent was rife all over Germany. The Prussian 
electoral struggle had become a matter of imperial interest, 
The election and an attempt was made in the Reichstag to 
of 1912 compel Prussia to adopt a democratic suffrage. 

The ever-increasing cost of living as well as the unpopular 
consumption taxes were laid at the door of the "Blue-Black 
Block." The middle classes were now almost as bitterly op- 
posed to agrarian rule as were the Socialists, and they were 
willing to combine with the latter in order to overthrow it. 
In the election of 19 12 the Government made frantic appeals 
to patriotic citizens to rally against the Socialists, "the 
party of disorder and negation," but the result was a crush- 
ing defeat for the "Blue-Black Block." The Conservatives 
elected seventy members, a loss of thirty-three; the Center, 
ninety-three, a loss of ten ; the Social Democrats, one hun- 
dred and ten, a gain of fifty-seven; 1 and the Liberals and 
Radicals, ninety, about the same as before. For the first 
time in the history of the German Empire the parties of the 
Left had a majority in the Reichstag, and the Socialists were 
the largest single party, displacing the Center from that 
position. In striking constrast was the result of the election 
to the Prussian Landtag, which took place during the fol- 
lowing year; there, owing to the three-class system, the 
Conservative-Center combination returned in almost un- 
diminished strength. 

The lesson of the election of 1912 was plain. The German 
War prepa- people had at last spoken most emphatically. 2 
rations They desired to see established throughout the 

displace pro- . ... 

jected re- Empire a true democratic regime ; they were op- 
posed to militaristic dominance as illustrated at 
Zabern ; they were opposed to the rule of Germany in the 

1 The popular vote of the Socialists was enormous, about 4,250,000, or 
thirty-five per cent of the whole. 

2 The popular vote of the Left was 7,410,000 as against 3,123,000 of the 
Block. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 321 

interests of the agrarians only. The Government was not 
at all blind to the situation, and semi-official intimations 
were given that a modification of the autocratic regime was 
to be expected. Unfortunately for German democracy, the 
Morocco situation and the Balkan War suddenly shifted the 
issues to "nationalism," and Germany began to prepare 
herself more assiduously than ever for the coming European 
conflict. 

Deutsche Kultur 

The spirit of nationalism which welled up during the 
period of unification produced an intense patriotism among 
the German people. Other nations had achieved intense pa- 
unity gradually, almost imperceptibly, through J^g^. * 
centuries of accretion as a result of petty wars mans 
between king and nobles, dynastic marriages, alliances, and 
inheritances. But Germania sprang full-grown from the 
brow of Mars. A conscious patriotism took hold of the Ger- 
man mind ; every act, every thought, no matter how simple, 
was associated with the Fatherland. The brilliant victories 
over Austria and France inspired the Germans with an un- 
bounded confidence in their military prowess and an over- 
weening pride in their achievements, and led them to believe 
that they were indeed a superior race. A Teutonic cult arose 
which had for its votaries influential writers, statesmen, and 
soldiers who fervently believed that the day of the Teuton 
had at last arrived, and that Germany was now to be the 
new model for the peoples of the world. Other races had al- 
ready accomplished their destiny, and were now therefore 
decadent ; the trial by battle had proved it conclusively for 
them in the case of France ; the seeming absence of a definite 
purpose and efficient system in the loosely hung British 
Empire convinced them that the English were fast losing 
their grip upon the world. The Russians were a barbaric 
horde without European traditions or culture and a constant 
danger to Western civilization, which it was now Germany's 
special mission to protect. 

In a wonderful way Germany proceeded to organize her- 



322 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

self as the "new model." The development of almost every 
r phase of human activity, political, economic, 

the "new and cultural, was minutely planned beforehand; 
nothing was left to chance. Difficulties were 
foreseen and provided for, and waste was eliminated through 
a marvelously efficient system of organization. System, 
Efficiency, Order, became the watchwords of the German 
people, who determined to conquer through them as once 
the French had conquered through Liberty, Equality, and 
Fraternity. 

Although the German State is democratic neither in 
theory nor in practice, it is the object of profound devo- 
_ . tion on the part of the German people. This is 

KultiiT . . 

chiefly due to the fact that for the first time in 
modern history the State took a paternal interest in all 
classes of the community. In the German view society con- 
sists, not of individuals, but of economic groups which are 
constantly struggling against one another; left to them- 
selves, some of these groups would prosper at the expense of 
others and the nation as a whole would consequently be the 
loser. In order to conserve the best interests of the nation, 
the German has developed an organic view of society, 
namely, that the various classes must work in harmony in 
order to insure the well-being of the community; hence the 
control of the social forces by the State becomes an integral 
element of Deutsche Kultur, or German civilization. 1 To the 
State is assigned the coordination of social and economic 
activities, and the welfare of each class is carefully guarded 
by a system of enlightened and painstaking legislation. The 
State teaches the farmer how best to utilize the soil and 
protects his product by high tariffs and low railway rates; it 
aids the merchant and manufacturer by far-seeing regula- 
tions, and by putting at their service the best commercial 
and scientific knowledge of the day; it aids the investing 
capitalist by a fine system of banking facilities; it aids the 

1 The German word Kultur is a rather vague term that is best translated 
by the English word "Civilization," for it comprehends every phase of orderly 
well-being, political, economic, and cultural. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 323 

laborer by training him for his vocation and by protecting 
him through life by the system of social insurance, already 
described. 1 

In no other sphere has the German's peculiar genius for 
community organization achieved greater triumphs than in 
that of municipal government. A German city Municipal 
is not merely a political corporation; it is an reforms 
agency for social welfare of a most far-reaching kind. Large 
industrial centers are made so healthful and beautiful that 
they look like residential towns. German cities buy land on 
the outskirts, lay out the streets, sewers, parks, and squares 
and arrange "zones" for residences, hospitals, schools, and 
factories, so that, when the city grows, its problems are 
solved before they are even created. By this method of 
"town planning," speculation in land, congestion, and other 
evils of growing cities are largely avoided. The German 
cities have also adopted the policy known as "municipal 
socialism." Public utilities such as street railways and gas 
and electric plants are owned and operated by the munici- 
pality for the benefit of the citizens. Frequently the city, 
in addition, owns dairies, slaughter-houses, breweries, restau- 
rants, and bakeries. It has also established labor exchanges, 
lodging-houses, theaters, and even pawnshops. Through 
such policies, and by honest and efficient administration, a 
new type of municipal civilization has been created in Ger- 
many which has elicited unstinted admiration throughout 
the world. 

German efficiency became the model for the nations who 
were seeking to solve the problems created by modern condi- 
tions. Commissions came from all over the world Autocracy 
to study the German system, especially the social the price of 

1 • 1 , • 1 • • 1 11 progress 

legislation and municipal government; and they 
were extensively copied. There was, however, a general 
feeling that the German people were paying too heavy a 
price for their wonderful system, as it was organized and 
directed by an autocratic government that stood like a 
stone wall against the rising tide of democracy. 

1 See p. 295. 



CHAPTER XIII 

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 

1867-1914 
Government and Parties 

The British system of government is full of anomalies, for 
it contains royal, aristocratic, and democratic elements. In 
„ . . . the days of the Tudors the royal element was the 

Evolution of J v 

British de- most powerful; after the Revolution of 1689 po- 
litical power shifted to the aristocracy which, for 
over a century, was dominant in the State; and with the 
Reform Bill of 1832 the democratic element began to assert 
itself, and a new shift of political power took place, this time 
to the middle classes. Although royal and aristocratic in- 
stitutions are still maintained by the nation, universal 
manhood suffrage and the abolition of the veto power of 
the House of Lords l have almost completed the stages in 
the evolution from autocracy sanctioned by "divine right" 
to the thoroughly democratic system now established in 
Great Britain. 

"The King reigns, but does not rule." In theory the King 
remains an absolute monarch by the "grace of God," but in 
practice he never interferes with, and seldom in- 
fluences, the conduct of the Government. He no 
longer vetoes bills; and appointments to office are made by 
the Cabinet in his name. The King has become a figurehead 
in the English political system; his sole prerogatives are 
"the right to encourage and the right to warn." Neverthe- 
less, he still performs a useful political function in being the 
symbol of the unity of the Empire. The monarchy is greatly 
respected by all classes of the English people, who regard it 
as the only non-partisan element in their Government and 
therefore a truly patriotic institution. 

1 See p. 363. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN . 325 

The leading characteristic of the British political system 
is the Cabinet. This is a committee of about twenty mem- 
bers of Parliament chosen in theory by the _, _ 

. „ , . The Cabinet 

House 01 Commons, but in practice by a caucus 
of the party in control of the House. The chief of the Cabi- 
net is known as the Premier, or Prime Minister, and he is 
always the leader of the majority party. It is he who has 
most weight in determining the appointment of his associ- 
ates and in the formulation of policies to be pursued by the 
Government. The "efficient secret" of the British cabinet 
system is the "union of powers," in contrast to the Ameri- 
can system of "separation of powers" : the Cabinet exercises 
"executive" power by appointing officials and by supervis- 
ing the administration; and it exercises at the same time 
"legislative power," inasmuch as the Ministers, being mem- 
bers of Parliament and the leaders of the dominant party, 
introduce all the important bills. Should any of these bills 
fail to pass the Commons, or should the latter pass a resolu- 
tion of "no confidence," the Cabinet as a whole must imme- 
diately resign, since it is chosen not for a definite term of 
office, but on the principle of "ministerial responsibility," 
which means that the Commons may at any time termi- 
nate its political life. When an adverse vote is passed, one 
of two things may follow: either the King calls upon the 
leader of the Opposition to form a new Ministry; * or, what 
is more likely to be the case, the House is dissolved and a 
new election is ordered. If the newly elected House con- 
tains a majority in favor of the Cabinet, the latter contin- 
ues in office; otherwise the leader of the Opposition is called 
upon by the King to form a new Cabinet, which in turn 
becomes "His Majesty's Government." It is of the great- 
est importance that harmony should exist in all parts of 
the British Government, and the elastic method of dis- 
solving Parliament is used to bring about such harmony 
in case it has ceased to exist. The British cabinet system 

1 The Cabinet is the core of a larger group of officials, called the Ministry, 
which consists of all the important administrative officials; but the terms 
"Cabinet" and "Ministry" are used synonymously. 



326 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

combines efficiency with democracy, and for this reason 
it has become the model for the whole world. 

Parliament consists of two houses, the Lords and the 
Commons, though the term "Parliament" generally refers 
w t j to the latter. The House of Lords consists mainly 

The Lords . . 

of hereditary peers, that is, those who owe their 
seats to the fact that they are the heads of noble families in 
England. The power of the Lords has been on the wane 
since 1832, and the Parliament Act of 191 1 1 has reduced the 
once haughty House to a position of inferiority, for the 
utmost they can do now in shaping legislation is to defer 
action for two years. Nevertheless, it is still a distinction 
to be a peer, because of the social prestige enjoyed by the 
English aristocracy. 

The House of Commons is composed of six hundred and 
seventy members chosen for a term of five years, but this 
The Com- period may be curtailed if the House is sooner 
mons dissolved by the King on the advice of his Minis- 

ters. As the King may order a dissolution at any time and 
for any reason, Parliament is sometimes dissolved, as in the 
case of the Lloyd George Budget of 1909, 2 because the Lords 
refuse to pass an important bill. Although Parliament is 
elected by what is practically universal manhood suffrage, 
voting in Great Britain is considered a property, not a 
natural, right. There are still property qualifications for 
voting, as the expansion of the suffrage was brought about 
by the contraction, and not by the abolition, of the property 
qualification. In order to be permitted to vote, a man must 
be a landowner, a householder, that is, the head of a family 
occupying a house, or a lodger paying fifty dollars (£10) a 
year rent. Plural voting is permitted, for a man has the 
right to vote in every constituency in which he possesses 
landed property. 3 The supremacy of Parliament is the fun- 
damental fact in the English political system; from the 
humble position of a mere advisory body to the King, the 
Commons has risen to dominate the entire Government by 

1 See p. 363. 2 See p. 359. 

8 In 1918 important changes were made in the electoral system. See p. 751. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 327 

absorbing the power of both the King and the Lords. As 
the functions of Parliament are focused in the Cabinet, the 
part the former plays is mainly that of monitor for the na- 
tion : it watches over the actions of the Cabinet, which must 
conform its policies to the will of Parliament or resign. In 
the British political system there are no "checks and bal- 
ances" to hamper the free action of Parliament; no written 
constitution to limit its powers, and consequently no su- 
preme court to declare its acts unconstitutional; and no 
veto by King or Lords to nullify its measures. Parliament, 
however, is heedful of the unwritten constitution, or the 
principles established by Magna Charta and the Bill of 
Rights. Were it not that English society is aristocratic, in- 
fluencing the masses to feel great respect for their "bet- 
ters," the exceedingly democratic character of the British 
system of government might easily lend itself to revolution- 
ary legislation. As it is, the conservative temper of the 
English people has been a restraining force on radicalism. 

The two-party system which grew up in England at the 
beginning of the eighteenth century has been so intimately 
related to the governmental system that it has The Con- 
come to be considered a necessary part of it. servatlves 
"His Majesty's Government," or the party in power, is 
always faced by "His Majesty's Opposition," or the party 
out of power; the former has complete control of all legisla- 
tion and the latter limits itself merely to criticizing the Gov- 
ernment. There are two great parties, the Conservatives, or 
Unionists, and the Liberals; and two small parties, the Irish 
Nationalists and the Laborites. The Conservative Party 
favors union with Ireland, an aggressive foreign policy, tariff 
reform (Protection), moderate social legislation, and land 
reform along conservative lines. Now that Parliament is 
under democratic control, Conservatives are beginning to 
question the long-accepted doctrine of the supremacy of 
Parliament. They advocate the referendum, a device by 
which the people themselves would be called upon to vote 
directly on an important bill over which the two Houses 
disagree. By this device they hope to circumscribe the un- 



328 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

checked freedom of action of the Commons. The Conserva- 
tive Party represents, in the main, the landed interests and 
receives the almost solid support of the rural vote. When 
Joseph Chamberlain deserted the Liberals on account of 
Irish Home Rule, 1 he took with him into the Conservative 
ranks a capitalistic element which has since made itself 
sufficiently powerful to dictate the policies of the old, aristo- 
cratic Tories. 

The Liberals favor home rule for Ireland, radical social 
reform, free trade, land reform, restriction of the liquor 
TO T ., , traffic, the abolition of plural voting, and the 

The Liberals , . 

supremacy of Parliament in the government ot 
Great Britain. Most of the support of the Liberals comes 
from the middle and working classes in the industrial regions 
of the kingdom. In recent years a radical element led by 
Lloyd George has appeared in the Liberal Party, which is 
no longer satisfied with the Gladstonian tradition of slow 
progress along the path of political democracy, but wishes 
to go much faster along the new path of social democracy. 
Although there are now four parties in Parliament, the 
essential character of the English two-party system, the 
The Na- Government and the Opposition, has not been 
and Labor- seriously undermined, because the Irish and 
ites Labor parties are too small to play the part 

that the Continental groups do in forming cabinets. They 
have, however, profoundly influenced the policies of the two 
leading parties, especially of the Liberals, with whom they 
have been closely allied since the election of 1906. 

Political History (1 867-1906) 

During the latter half of the nineteenth century two great 
personalities, Gladstone and Disraeli, dominated England's 
public life to a degree almost unparalleled in her 
history. Their ideals and characters made a 
lasting impression upon their own generation and greatly in- 
fluenced the generation that followed them. William Ewart 
Gladstone (1809-98) was born in the city of Liverpool. His 

1 See p. 394. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 329 

father was a wealthy merchant who gave his son the best edu- 
cation possible in the England of that day. Young Gladstone 
was sent to Oxford, where he greatly distinguished himself 
both as a student and as a debater. In 1 833 he was elected to 
the House of Commons as a Conservative. His eloquence 
and ability gained him immediate recognition, and he was 
acclaimed by Macaulay, the famous historian, as the "rising 
hope of the stern, unbending Tories." For some years he 
was the faithful follower of Sir Robert Peel, who was a past- 
master in the art of adapting himself to changing political 
conditions. An earnest study of English political and social 
institutions, a slowly dawning conviction that a democratic 
England was inevitable, and a natural desire to be the leader 
in the new time, drew the rising young statesman from the 
Conservative to the Liberal Party. For many years Glad- 
stone was the leading spokesman of progressive liberalism 
and the chief builder of modern England. Although fre- 
quently accused of being a demagogue, because of his elo- 
quent defense of democratic principles, he was far indeed 
from being a revolutionary radical. On the contrary, he 
believed in liberty "broadening down from precedent to 
precedent"; and to the day of his death he continued to 
"grow visibly." Gladstone was a man of many abilities. As 
an orator he was unsurpassed, and received the homage of a 
generation that knew Bright, Disraeli, and Macaulay. He 
was also a master of national finance and could make the 
intricacies of a budget as interesting as an exposition of 
human rights. When Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 
Coalition Ministry, he once held the rapt attention of the 
House for five hours while he was expounding the budget 
for the year. Gladstone's main political interest was in do- 
mestic reform. In the Empire as a whole he had but scant 
interest ; and in foreign affairs he frequently showed him- 
self incapable of grasping the true significance of great 
events such as the American Civil War and the Franco- 
Prussian War. No man since the Earl of Chatham exercised 
so wonderful an influence over his countrymen as did Glad- 
stone, who advocated his political principles with a moral 



330 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

fervor and religious earnestness that made him appear the 
very model of a Christian statesman. 

His famous rival was Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81), later 
known as the Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli was born in 
^. ,. London of Tewish parents, but received Christian 

Disraeli . J .... ,_. 

baptism and was admitted into the Episcopal 
Church at the age of thirteen. Although he was not sent to 
any of the great English colleges, he was carefully educated 
by his father, who was a literary man of some talent. From 
his earliest youth Disraeli was consumed with the ambition 
to play a prominent role in politics. In 1837 he entered Par- 
liament as an independent radical. When he was making 
his maiden speech, his florid oratory and sensational mode 
of dress produced such an uproar in the House that he was 
compelled to sit down, shouting defiantly at the same time 
that the day would come when they would be glad to hear 
him. He continued to attract attention as a writer of po- 
litical novels, which are remarkable, not so much for their 
literary qualities as for their keen analysis of English politi- 
cal and social conditions. He again entered Parliament in 
1 84 1, this time as a Conservative. Before long his political 
abilities brought him recognition in spite of the prejudice 
against him because of his origin and personality. The leader 
of the Conservative Party, Sir Robert Peel, did not take 
kindly to young Disraeli. When Peel yielded to the demand 
for repealing the Corn Laws, * Disraeli immediately came for- 
ward as the champion of protection, and in a speech vibrant 
with sarcasm and scorn he denounced Peel as a betrayer of 
the Conservative Party and as a "sublime mediocrity" 
who, being devoid of originality, became the "burglar of 
other men's minds." From that day till his death, Disraeli 
was absolute master of his party, which followed him will- 
ingly or unwillingly, because it was recognized among the 
landed gentry that he alone could rehabilitate conservatism 
in the new England that had arisen since 1832. 

Disraeli resolved "to educate his own party" in the new 
problems confronting the generation of his day. He came to 

1 See p. 71. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 331 

the rather startling conclusion that an alliance between the 
aristocrats and the working class against the middle class, 
the two extremes as against the middle, was the wisest pol- 
icy for the Conservatives. This he called "Tory Democ- 
racy," and, to attract the workingman to his standard, he 
advocated the liberalizing of the Tory Party in novels, 
speeches, and pamphlets. The old-fashioned Liberals, who 
rested content with their reforms, and particularly with the 
Reform Bill of 1832, he once wittily described as "a row of 
extinct volcanoes." Plausible as the idea of "Tory Democ- 
racy" appeared, it failed of its object chiefly because the 
Liberal Party under Gladstone's leadership became more 
progressive ; it had moreover the advantage of being able 
to claim to its credit the first great step toward democracy 
taken in 1832. Disraeli urged another policy on the Con- 
servative Party, imperialism, which he characterized as "the 
sublime instinct of an ancient people." The British Empire 
had grown up mainly as a result of private enterprise, and it 
had often been treated with neglect and indifference by the 
Government. It was Disraeli's idea that Great Britain 
should become conscious of her imperial duties and extend 
her sway by an aggressive foreign policy. He made a vivid 
appeal to the English imagination, and the Conservative 
Party gladly adopted the policy of Imperialism which has 
since proved to be its greatest political asset. 

Victorian England could boast of two other distinguished 
figures that shed luster upon its history, namely, John 
Bright and John Stuart Mill. John Bright (181 1- Brf ht 
89) was a typical representative of the middle 
classes who had come into power with the Reform Bill of 
1832. He was a stanch believer in the doctrine of laissez 
faire, and for that reason he opposed factory legislation; 
but he was consistently in favor of political democracy and 
was always a valiant champion of the liberal movements of 
his day. Bright effectively aided Cobden in his anti-Corn 
Law agitation and Gladstone in his efforts to extend the 
franchise. As we have already seen, 1 he was an enemy of 

1 See p. 74. 



332 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

slavery and espoused the cause of the North during the 
Civil War. Bright's abilities as an orator were of the very 
highest ; by some of his contemporaries he was rated as the 
ablest orator of the day. 

John Stuart Mill (1806-73), political philosopher and 
economist, was one of the great intellectual influences of his 
generation. As a disciple of Jeremy Bentham, 
Mill championed the ideals of the Utilitarian 
School of philosophy, whose fundamental doctrine was "to 
do the greatest good to the greatest number"; by this they 
meant that government and society ought to be so organized 
as to bring comfort and happiness to the mass of the people. 
In economics Mill espoused the ideas of the Manchester 
School, which he made popular by his books on political 
economy. He had an extraordinary gift for lucid statement, 
and his writings are crystal clear in their exposition of 
varied and complex phenomena. He was conspicuous for 
open-mindedness and intellectual honesty and ahead of his 
generation in many of his ideas. He warmly espoused the 
cause of woman suffrage and advocated the reorganization 
of the electoral system on the basis of proportional repre- 
sentation. 1 

The Reform Bill of 1867, like that of 1832, was followed 
by an era of reform. Now that the working classes were 
The Educa- enfranchised, the general sentiment was that an 
tion Act educated democracy was less dangerous than an 
ignorant one. "We must educate our masters," said the 
Conservative, Robert Lowe. Gladstone's first Ministry 
(1868-74) P u t through the Foster Education Act (1870) 
establishing for the first time a national system of popular 
education. The declared aim of this law was " to complete 
the voluntary system and fill up the gaps." Great Britain 
was divided into school districts, and new schools were built 
where there was not a sufficient number already established. 
These new schools, known as "Board Schools," were sup- 
ported mainly by local taxation and were placed under the 
control of popularly elected boards. Illiteracy, which at 

1 See p. 492. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 333 

one time had been very high in Great Britain, 1 began to 
fall rapidly. To-day, with education both free and com- 
pulsory, it is practically non-existent. 

When Gladstone took office he announced that his first 
mission was to pacify Ireland. The Irish Question, there- 
fore, occupied a prominent place in the program Gladston ' 
of his Ministry. A law disestablishing the Epis- first Minis- 
copal Church in Ireland was passed in 1869; and try 
during the following year the first of the famous Irish Land 
Acts was enacted. 2 The most notable act of the Gladstone 
Ministry in the realm of foreign affairs was the settlement in 
1 87 1 of the Alabama Claims. These grew out of the claims 
of the United States against England for giving assistance 
to the Alabama and other Southern privateers in their dep- 
redations on Northern commerce. After much negotiation 
the matter was settled by a board of arbitrators, who 
awarded the United States the sum of fifteen and a half 
million dollars. 

Disraeli's Ministry (1874-80) was as notable in foreign 
affairs as Gladstone's had been in domestic affairs. It was 
the aim of the new Premier to have his country Disraeli's 
play a great part in the affairs of the world by Ministr y 
pursuing a vigorous foreign policy and by extending the 
boundaries of the Empire. Egypt made her entry into the 
British Empire in 1875 through England's purchase of the 
Suez Canal shares held by the Khedive. 3 Disraeli em- 
phasized his imperalism in a highly dramatic manner in 
1876 by having Queen Victoria crowned with great cere- 
mony as Empress of India. The Bulgarian atrocities, which 
precipitated the Near Eastern crisis of 1877, 4 aroused such 
great indignation in England that a demand, voiced by 
Gladstone, arose that the Turk be driven out of Europe. 
But the Disraeli Ministry, following the traditional policy 
of England in the Near East, backed Turkey against Russia 
during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. At the Congress of 

1 In the middle of the nineteenth century about thirty per cent of the men 
and about fifty per cent of the women were illiterate. 

2 See p. 390. 3 See p. 404. 4 See p. 632. 



334 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Berlin, Disraeli played a prominent if not a great part, 
and he left the Congress bringing, as he said, "peace with 
honor." 1 The Government was denounced by Gladstone in a 
series of stirring speeches to his constituents in Midlothian 
for its support of the Sultan and for its neglect of domestic 
reforms to such good effect that in the election of 1880 the 
Liberals were overwhelmingly successful; and Gladstone 
returned to power. 

Gladstone's second Ministry (1880-85) was even more 
notable than his first. Once more domestic reform became 
G1 , , the leading question in English politics. A strin- 
second Min- gent Corrupt Practices Act was passed in 1883 
which forbade, under severe penalties, the brib- 
ery of voters, directly or indirectly. This law, together with 
the introduction of the Australian, or secret, ballot (1872), 
did much to purify the English electoral system. As the 
extension of the suffrage had been the main principle of 
the Liberals, they had beeh for a time discouraged when the 
Conservatives "stole their clothes" by passing the Reform 
Bill of 1867. The Conservatives hoped that out of grati- 
tude the newly enfranchised would support them; but in 
this they were doomed to disappointment, for most of 
the workingmen supported the Liberal Party, which, under 
Gladstone's leadership, became the champion of complete 
democracy. The Reform Bill of 1867 did not by any means 
establish universal suffrage, for, as we have seen, 2 it was so 
drawn as to exclude the agricultural laborers from voting. 
In 1884 Gladstone, ably seconded by John Bright, carried 
through Parliament the third great Reform Bill against the 
vigorous opposition of the Conservatives. The new law 
placed the county franchise on the same footing as that of 
the borough by giving the vote in the counties to all house- 
holders and to those who paid at least fifty dollars (£10) a 
year for lodgings. It is estimated that the Reform Bill of 
1884 increased the electorate from about three to about five 
million. Universal manhood suffrage was now virtually 
established in Great Britain, as the number of those still 

1 For further details see p. 635. 2 See p. 76. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 335 

excluded from voting, sons living with their parents and 
servants living with their employers, was comparatively 
small. However, a new suffrage question arose, Woman 
Suffrage, which will be described in another chapter. 1 In 
1885 Parliament passed the Redistribution Act, which re- 
apportioned the country into constituencies more or less 
equal in size. Unfortunately, provision was not made for a 
periodic redistribution of seats, as is the case in America, 
where, under the Federal Constitution, a reapportionment 
is made every ten years. Failure to provide this safeguard 
has permitted the growth of a new "rotten-borough" sys- 
tem, as the party in power is naturally reluctant to change 
the constituencies lest it suffer thereby. 

Gladstone's temperamental dislike of an aggressive policy 
in the conduct of foreign affairs greatly dissatisfied the 
country. When he yielded to the Boers after the Overthrow 
British defeat at Majuba Hill in 1881, 2 the Con- stone Minis- 
servatives denounced the Government's action tr y 
as a humiliation of the British Empire. His hesitation in 
sending a relief expedition to General Gordon when the lat- 
ter was besieged by the followers of the Mahdi at Khartum, 3 
and the subsequent death of the General, whom the coun- 
try regarded as a martyr, made the Ministry so unpopular 
that, in July, 1885, it was overthrown. 

The new Prime Minister was Lord Salisbury, who had 
succeeded Disraeli as the leader of the Conservative Party. 
Salisbury was a member of the Cecil family, Salisbury's 
distinguished in English history since the days firs t Minis- 

trv 

of Queen Elizabeth. He was a disciple of Disraeli, 
and, like his master, was noted for his caustic wit; but, un- 
like him, he was a man of a narrow, aristocratic outlook and 
therefore lacking in sympathy with the progressive ideas 
of his time. Salisbury was in office but a short time, for 
the Liberals won in the general election in December, 1885. 
Gladstone's third Ministry was a short one (February- 
August, 1886), but it was made notable by the introduction 
of the first Irish Home Rule Bill. 4 Gladstone was bitterly 
1 See pp. 607 ff. 2 See p. 414. 3 See p. 406. 4 See p. 393. 



336 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

denounced for his championship of the Irish both by Liber- 
Gladstone's a ^ s an d by Conservatives. John Bright, Joseph 
third Min- Chamberlain, and Lord Randolph Churchill led 
a secession movement from the Liberal Party 
to vote against it. "An intolerable, an imbecile, an accursed 
bill," was Lord Salisbury's opinion of the measure; the solu- 
tion of the Irish Question, he declared, was not in conces- 
sion, but in coercion. The bill was defeated by a combina- 
tion of Conservatives and Liberals. 

A Conservative Government was again organized under 
Lord Salisbury. His second Ministry (1886-92) was chiefly 
c ,. , , occupied with the Irish problem. Many out- 

balisbury s ^ ^ J 

second Min- rages were committed by the Irish tenants 
against the landlords, and the Land League was 
accused of secretly encouraging the turbulent Irish. Arthur 
Balfour, Salisbury's nephew, was appointed Chief Secre- 
tary for Ireland, and he determined to suppress ruthlessly 
the lawless agitation of the Irish. A drastic Crimes Act was 
passed, and it was vigorously enforced. The Conservatives, 
however, decided to quiet Irish discontent by land legisla- 
tion favorable to the peasants, and so they passed the Land 
Purchase Act of 1891. 1 An important measure of political 
reform was accomplished by the Salisbury Ministry through 
the passing of the County Councils Act of 1888. This 
measure did for the rural districts what the Municipal Re- 
form Act of 1835 had done for the cities: political control 
was taken away from the local aristocracy and given to 
popularly elected bodies. 

Gladstone's fourth Ministry (1892-94), like his third, 
was occupied mainly with the Irish Question. In 1893 he 
,-,, , x , introduced the second Home Rule Bill. 2 This 

Gladstone s 

fourth Min- time it passed the Commons, but it was de- 
feated by the Lords. Shortly afterwards Glad- 
stone retired from public life and was succeeded as Premier 
by Lord Rosebery. The latter, having no sympathy with 
Irish Home Rule, made no effort to agitate the question any 
further. The Rosebery Ministry (1894-95) was responsi- 

1 See p. 391. 2 See p. 394. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 337 

ble for an important tax law fathered by Sir William Har- 
court which laid heavy "death duties," or taxes on inheri- 
tances. 

In the general elections of 1895, the Conservatives were 
overwhelmingly successful, and they ruled England for 
an entire decade. From 1895 to 1902 Lord Salisbury's 
Salisbury was Prime Minister and from 1902 §JJjJ- c£im- 
to 1905 Balfour was at the helm. This decade berlain 
is a crucial period in the history of the British Empire, 
as once more imperial questions came to the fore in Eng- 
lish politics. An important figure in the Conservative Min- 
istry was Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary. 
Chamberlain began his political life as a radical Liberal, 
and he attracted considerable attention by reforming the 
government of Birmingham, his home city, where for many 
years afterwards he dominated political life. Although a 
manufacturer and the representative of an industrial sec- 
tion, he yet was sufficiently far-sighted to favor social 
legislation for the benefit of the working classes. As we have 
already seen, he left the Liberal Party on the Home Rule 
issue, and joined the Conservatives with a group of ex- 
Liberals calling themselves "Unionists." Chamberlain de- 
voted the latter part of his political life to a vigorous 
agitation for protection and imperial preference; 1 he be- 
lieved that only by the adoption of these policies could the 
British Empire be maintained under modern conditions. 
On the question of protection the Conservatives became 
divided into two camps, for many had become adherents 
of free trade; Chamberlain, finding himself in a minority, 
resigned his office in 1903. 

Arthur James Balfour was another prominent figure of 
this period. He is an excellent example of the English 
intellectual in politics, his speeches being dis- 
tinguished by literary and philosophic qualities 
of a high order. Although an aristocrat and a Conserva- 
tive, Balfour's fine personal character and tolerant open- 
mindedness brought him respect even from the extreme 

1 See p. 421. 



338 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

radicals in Parliament. His equivocal attitude regarding 
protection aroused a formidable opposition to him among 
the tariff reformers, or protectionists, in his own party; in 
1 9 1 2 he was deposed as leader of the Conservatives and was 
succeeded by a stanch protectionist, Andrew Bonar-Law. 

The Boer War 1 was fought during the Salisbury Minis- 
try. The war was opposed by the Liberals but it was en- 
Foreign thusiastically supported by the overwhelming 
affairs majority of the English people, and in the gen- 
eral elections of 1900 the Conservatives were returned to 
power on the war issue with a majority of 134. A dispute 
with Venezuela, in 1895, over the boundary line between 
that country and British Guiana almost led to a war 
with the United States on account of the Monroe Doc- 
trine; but the matter was amicably settled by arbitration, 
resulting in a marked improvement in the relations between 
England and America, which had been strained since the 
Civil War. 

Irish discontent continued to engage public attention, 
and the Conservatives endeavored to quiet the country by 
Domestic passing the Local Government Act (1898) and 
legislation t ^ e L anc j Purchase Act (1903). 2 In 1902 they 
passed an Education Act 3 favorable to the schools of the 
Established Church, which aroused great opposition, par- 
ticularly among Nonconformists. The Conservatives had 
been in office for a long time, and a general reaction was 
now setting in against them. They aroused popular fury 
by permitting the mine-owners in South Africa to import 
Chinese coolies to work under conditions of semi-slavery. 
As a consequence they suffered a great defeat in the elec- 
tions of 1906, which returned about 380 Liberals and only 
about 160 Conservatives. 

Religious and Educational Reforms 

A State Church is an inheritance from the Protestant 
Revolution, which split up the international Catholic 
Church into national fragments. For several centuries after 
1 See p. 416. 2 See p. 391. 3 See p. 342. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 339 

the Protestant Revolution, a common belief prevailed that 
it was as much the duty of the State to protect Church and 
souls from heresy as it was to protect persons State 
in their lives and property. Until the Revolution of 
1689, the English law presumed every subject to be a mem- 
ber of the national Anglican Church; later only those 
possessing the political privileges of voting and holding 
office were presumed to be Episcopalians. Even after the 
removal of the disabilities of Dissenters, Catholics, and 
Jews, the Anglican Establishment remained the favored 
Church of the nation. The King was its head ; and its bish- 
ops, appointed by the Government, had seats in the House 
of Lords. It was supported mainly from the "endowments," 
large properties given to the Church in times past by the 
State; and the income from this source was supplemented 
by donations from its adherents and further augmented by 
local taxes known as "church rates" and "tithes," levied 
on citizens irrespective of their beliefs. The nation directly 
contributed to the support of the Establishment from a 
special fund called Queen Anne's Bounty. 

With the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832 there began 
a movement for religious equality which enlisted the hearty 
support of the new voters, mainly Dissenters, St to _ 
who objected vigorously to supporting a Church ward religious 
in whose doctrines they did not believe. In 
1868 Parliament abolished compulsory church rates by for- 
bidding the prosecution of those who refused to pay them. 
As we have already seen, 1 a step was taken in the direction 
of religious equality by the disestablishment of the Episco- 
pal Church in Ireland. The requirement that only Anglicans 
should be granted degrees at the Universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge was repealed in 1871 by an act of Parliament. 
The Burials Act of 1880 permitted Nonconformist burial 
services in the parish churchyards. Each of these laws was a 
step toward the equalization of all religious denominations. 

The right to be a member of Parliament had been granted 
to all Christians and Jews. Could the right be withheld 

1 See p. 388. 



340 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

from an atheist, or one who was opposed to all religions 
The Brad- and disbelieved in the existence of God ? Charles 
laugh case Bradlaugh, a well-known atheist agitator, was 
elected to Parliament in 1880. Instead of taking the cus- 
tomary oath, in which the words "so help me God" oc- 
curred, he wished to make merely an affirmation of his 
allegiance to the British Crown. This privilege being 
denied to him, he offered to take the oath; but he was then 
told that it could have no meaning for an atheist, and his 
election was declared null and void. A heated controversy 
arose over the question whether belief in God ought to 
be a test for membership in Parliament. The matter was 
definitely settled in 1888 by an act which legalized an affir- 
mation of loyalty as a substitute for the customary oath. 
Bradlaugh thereupon made the affirmation, and was ad- 
mitted to the House. Now that an atheist was permitted 
to sit in Parliament, the last religious test for holding pub- 
lic office disappeared. 

Another sign of the growth of religious tolerance was 
the change made in the King's oath on the accession of 
The King's George V in 1910 to the throne. The statute of 
oath 1688, in order to assure the country of the Prot- 

estantism of the King, required him, in the coronation oath, 
to denounce the Catholic religion as "superstitious and 
idolatrous." In 1910 Parliament established a new oath 
which required the King merely to swear that he would 
maintain the laws governing the Protestant succession. 

The next step taken toward religious equality was the 
disestablishment of the Episcopal Church in Wales. For 
Disestablish- many years it had been the national grievance 
Wdsh° f the °^ t ^ ie W e l sn people, about seventy per cent of 
Church whom were Nonconformists, that they were 

compelled to support an "alien church." Lloyd George, 
himself a Welshman and one of the most influential men 
in Parliament, stood forth as the ardent champion of dis- 
establishment. The proposal was bitterly attacked by the 
Conservatives, who feared that disestablishment in Wales 
would become a precedent for a similar policy in England. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 341 

A bill disestablishing the Episcopal Church in Wales passed 
the Commons, but it was thrown out by the Lords. After 
a delay of two years it became law in 19 14 under the Par- 
liament Act of 1 9 1 1 . 1 The four Welsh bishops lost their seats 
in the House of Lords, and the Church in Wales was "dis- 
endowed" of much of its property, the income from which 
was hereafter to be devoted to educational and charitable 
purposes; but a large fund was set aside for the mainte- 
nance of the Welsh clergy. The sudden outbreak of the World 
War led to the passage of an amendment which suspended 
the operation of the Welsh Disestablishment Act until the 
close of the war. 

The advance of popular education in England has been 
greatly retarded by the powerful opposition of aristocratic 
and religious influences. It was feared by con- Conservative 
servative people that, if the common man were °o popular 
given an education, he would become discon- education 
tented, rebellious, and atheistic; ignorance, or, at best, 
education under religious influences, was considered a safe- 
guard against revolutionary ideas. 

As we have already seen, 2 a system of national secular 
education, the Board Schools, had been established in 1870. 
But many children continued to attend the Vol- The Boarcl 
untary Schools, which were under sectarian con- and Volun- 
trol and were supported largely by private con- 
tributions. In these schools direct religious instruction was 
given along sectarian lines, but the children whose parents 
objected to such teaching were permitted to absent them- 
selves from the periods devoted to religious instruction. In 
the Board Schools the law required only simple Bible in- 
struction, and forbade the teaching of any "catechism or 
religious formulary which is distinctive of any denomina- 
tion." 

The two school systems were in constant and bitter riv- 
alry. Support by local taxation gave the Board Schools the 
advantage of ample funds, and the superior equipment which 
they were therefore enabled to secure attracted to them 

1 See p. 363. 2 See p. 332. 



342 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

an attendance larger than that of the Voluntary Schools. 
The Educa- ^ ne latter, which were mainly under Anglican 
tion Act of auspices, inaugurated a campaign for greater 
financial assistance from the Government. The 
Conservatives, always friendly to the Established Church, 
passed a new education law in 1902 which considerably 
modified the act of 1870. The local school boards were abol- 
ished, and the control of the Board Schools was vested in 
a committee of the county or borough council; but the 
Voluntary Schools were to continue under sectarian control. 
Provision was also made for the support of both systems 
by local taxation. 

This law caused widespread indignation, particularly 
among the Nonconformists, who were strongly opposed 
o osition to P UDUC support of, the Episcopal schools, 
of the Non- Many resolved on a policy of "passive resist- 
ance." For refusing to pay the local school tax 
some were imprisoned and others had their property seized 
by the Government. The Liberals, who were friendly to 
the Nonconformists, promised to repeal the Education Act of 
1902 ; and when a Liberal Ministry came into power in 1906 
it introduced a bill into Parliament which embodied the 
following principles: that no school was to be considered a 
part of the national system unless it was under public con- 
trol ; that religious instruction was to be given only to those 
who desired it and by persons not connected with the schools; 
and that there should be no religious test in the appoint- 
ment of teachers. The bill passed the Commons, but was 
defeated by the Lords, who, because of their Episcopal 
sympathies, were determined to block every effort of the 
Liberals to deal with the education question. 

Advance of Trade Unionism 

If the introduction of machinery had the effect of sep- 
arating into two camps the capitalists and the laborers, 
Concentra- it also resulted in bringing numerous workers 
tion of labor nearer together. Massed in one place, doing the 
same or similar work, getting the same wages, living in the 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 343 

same barrack-like homes, the factory laborers naturally got 
to feel a sense of solidarity and of common interest. 

The conditions of employment — dirty factories, low 
wages, and long hours — imposed by the manufacturers 
during the Industrial Revolution made the work- Origin of 
ing class realize that they would sink into a con- trade umons 
dition of abject slavery unless they found some means of 
protecting their interests as against those of the mill-owners. 
The refusal of one or of several workers to accept the terms 
of their employer would not seriously disconcert the latter, 
as he could easily get plenty of others to fill the vacant 
places. Out of these conditions a new institution shortly 
developed, the " trade" or " labor union," which is a con- 
tinuous association of wage-earners in the same trade for 
the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of 
their employment through common action. The labor 
unions asserted the principle of " collective bargaining," 
by which they meant that the entire group employed at a 
trade or in a factory should demand better terms as a union; 
in case of refusal the entire group should then "strike," or 
cease working. As it was difficult to replace a large group 
of strikers, this would probably lead to a shutting-down of 
the factory; and, if the strike were prolonged, to the financial 
ruin of the employers. Many strikes accompanied by vio- 
lence took place. This so frightened employers and the well- 
to-do classes generally that, in 1799 and 1800, Parliament 
passed a series of acts, known as the "Combination Laws," 
which forbade any combination of workingmen for the pur- 
pose of increasing wages or of shortening the hours of labor, 
on the ground that such associations were in restraint of 
trade. Trade unions were declared illegal, and strikes 
were classed with conspiracies against the State. "The 
power of making laws," wrote Arnold Toynbee in his 
famous book, Lectures on the Industrial Revolution, "was 
concentrated in the hands of landowners, the great mer- 
chant princes, and a small knot of capitalist manufacturers, 
who wielded that power in the interest of their class rather 
than for the good of the people." Workingmen were fre- 



344 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

quently convicted of the crime of combining to raise the 
price of their labor, and they consequently formed secret 
unions that resorted to violent methods. 

The trade unions were under the ban of both law and pub- 
lic opinion. Employers naturally opposed them because 
Opposition they were continually demanding better wages; 
to trade aristocrats feared them as expressions of that 

radical democracy which had brought on the 
French Revolution; the clergy denounced them as breeders 
of discontent among the working classes, whose lot in life 
had been fixed by Providence ; and many people, otherwise 
sympathetic with the poor, feared that, if trade unions got 
control, British industry would be driven from the markets 
of the world by foreign competition. 

In spite of poverty, ignorance, and insufficient organiza- 
tion, the working classes did manage to impress the general 
Progress of public with the essential justice of the aims of 
trade the trade unions. The growth of these associa- 

unionism . , . , M , 

tions, despite hostile laws, was very rapid, ow- 
ing to the remarkable development of English industry. It 
was Francis Place, the London tailor, who became the 
leader of a movement to repeal the Combination Laws. In 
a quiet but effective way he brought pressure to bear on 
Parliament; and in 1824 the Combination Laws against 
trade unions were repealed to the extent of allowing unions 
to make wage agreements with employers. But an outbreak 
of violent strikes caused Parliament to withdraw most of 
the concessions made by the law of 1824. Under the 
inspiration of Robert Owen, the social reformer, a Grand 
Consolidated Trades Union was formed in 1834, consisting 
of about half a million men in all kinds of trades, whose 
object was to usher in a new social system by means of a 
general strike of all labor. The scheme failed miserably, 
and the Grand Consolidated soon broke up into small 
craft unions. Because of the rise of Chartism, the unions 
were for a time under the ban of public opinion; but a reac- 
tion in their favor soon followed. In 1859 Parliament gave 
partial recognition to the unions by permitting a person 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 345 

peaceably "to persuade others to cease or abstain from 
work, in order to obtain the rate of wages or the altered 
hours of labor agreed to by him and others." However, 
the unions were not yet fully free to pursue their activities; 
they were still held by law to be "in restraint of trade," 
and the criminal code continued to regard strikes as con- 
spiracies. 

The Reform Bill of 1867, which enfranchised the work- 
ing classes in the towns, was bound to lead to efforts by 
the new voters to ameliorate their condition. Legal rec- 
During the years 1867-69 there was widespread thetrade° f 
labor unrest ; strikes, accompanied by violence, unions 
were matters of everyday occurrence. In order fully to un- 
derstand the questions in dispute between capital and labor, 
a royal commission was appointed to investigate all aspects 
of the differences between them. The report of this com- 
mission was very notable, for its recommendations were 
embodied in the great act of 1871, which constitutes the 
"charter of liberties " of English trade unionism. The Com- 
bination Laws were repealed, and workingmen were hence- 
forth permitted to perform those acts in combination that 
they could legally do as individuals. The unions were put 
on a legal basis, and the old theory of "restraint of trade," 
under which they had been prosecuted, was repudiated; 
hence a unionist could no longer be charged with conspir- 
acy. Strikes were made legal, and the principle of "col- 
lective bargaining" was clearly recognized. This law was 
passed against the bitter opposition of the manufacturers, 
who stoutly contended that they alone had the right to 
determine the conditions of industry, and that any attempt 
to limit this right, either by the union or by the State, was 
a violation of the fundamental rights of liberty and prop- 
erty. Once social stigma and legal barriers were removed 
from the trade unions, membership in these societies began 
to grow rapidly. The English labor organizations became 
models for workingmen throughout the world ; their disci- 
pline was excellent, their treasuries well rilled, and their 
morale admirable. They showed such moderation that even 



346 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the conservative classes became finally convinced of the 
utility of labor unions under modern conditions. 

Those who had won the fight for recognition were mainly 
skilled workers. Among the unskilled laborers, both in 
The strike *he town and in the country, there was much 
of the dock- discontent; but the difficulties in the way of or- 
ganizing poorly paid, overworked, and scattered 
workingmen were very great. In 1889 occurred the famous 
strike of the dockers, who were rapidly organized by John 
Burns, a resourceful and heroic leader. It was a remark- 
able demonstration by many thousands of unskilled labor- 
ers, whose wages were low, hours long, and employment un- 
certain. The strike was free from violence, and it aroused 
the greatest sympathy among prominent men in all walks 
of life, who warmly supported the dockers in their demand 
for better conditions. The strikers won, and the victory 
helped to spread the idea of unionism among the unskilled. 
Even the agricultural laborers organized; they formed a 
union of thousands of men throughout the country under 
another famous labor leader, Joseph Arch. But the agri- 
cultural laborers' union was short-lived, for it encountered 
the powerful opposition of lords, farmers, and clergy, all of 
whom combined to destroy it. 

A new epoch in British trade unionism began with the 
Taff Vale decision of 1901. During a strike of the railway 
The Taff men against the Taff Vale Railway in Wales, 
Vale deci- efforts were made by the strikers to prevent 
the company from bringing in "black-legs," or 
non-union laborers, by picketing the railway stations. The 
union was sued by the railway company, and it was found 
guilty by the House of Lords, acting as a supreme court of 
justice, of conspiring to intimidate workingmen to break 
their contract and aiding and abetting acts of violence 
against the property of the company; as a punishment, the 
union was ordered to pay heavy damages. 

This decision alarmed the many trade unionists through- 
out Great Britain, as their funds were hereafter to be placed 
in jeopardy in case of a strike. It was strongly denounced 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 347 

by a national conference representing labor unions, Socialist 
organizations, and radical societies, which deter- The Trades 
mined to form a new party to represent the Disputes 
interests of organized labor and of the lower 
classes generally. In this way was born the Labor Party, 
which, at its first venture in the elections of 1906, succeeded 
in winning twenty-nine seats in Parliament. This group, 
cooperating with the radical element among the Liberals, 
induced Parliament to pass the Trades Disputes Act 
(1906), which nullified the Taff Vale decision by legalizing 
peaceful picketing and by prohibiting legal action against 
trade unions for damages on account of breaches of con- 
tract. This law placed the trade union in the privileged 
position of a corporation against which no civil suit could 
be entertained. 

Organized labor now had two weapons, the trade union 
and a political party, and it was not slow to use either or 
both, as the occasion arose, to advance its in- The Labor 
terests. The entrance of a third party in British Party 
politics had an important bearing on party government. 
At every succeeding election the Laborites consolidated and 
increased their forces until they formed, in 1914, a compact 
group of about forty members of Parliament, representing 
chiefly the trade unions, but also the Independent Labor 
Party, the most important socialist organization in Great 
Britain. Although independent as an organization, the 
Labor Party has generally acted with the Liberals, because 
the latter are more sympathetic with democratic and social 
reforms than are the Conservatives; and, although many of 
the Laborites are believers in socialism, the party has not 
been active in propagating its doctrines. It is largely in- 
terested in advocating specific labor demands, such as a uni- 
versal eight-hour law and a minimum wage for all workers. 1 
The Labor Party has had an influence in quickening the 
pace of British radicalism; during the reform era, from 1906 
to 1914, the Liberals found the support of this party in- 
dispensable. J. Ramsay MacDonald, a moderate socialist 

1 See p. 594. 



348 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of unusual ability, and Keir Hardie, a radical socialist and 
popular trade unionist, were the founders and leaders of the 
Labor Party. 

In order to pay the campaign expenses of its candidates 
and the salaries of its representatives in Parliament, the 
The " Os- Labor Party was forced to draw upon trade- 
bourne union funds. But the House of Lords, in 1909, 

gmen rendered a decision, known as the "Osbourne 
Judgment," which prohibited the use of trade-union funds 
for political purposes. This was a severe blow to the party, 
for it had no other financial resources. As a result of this 
decision an item providing for the payment of salaries 
of two thousand dollars (£400) a year to all members of 
Parliament was included in the budget of 191 1. 1 Later, a 
law was passed allowing the funds of a union to be used for 
political action if the majority of the members should 
so decide, but the minority were to be exempt from contrib- 
uting for this purpose. 

In recent years unrest among the British laboring classes 
has been increasing. At first socialism, and then syndi- 
Unrest calism, 2 made headway among the hitherto stolid 

vwking an d conservative masses. Perhaps a more po- 

classes tent cause for discontent than radical, agitation 

has been the increase in the cost of living. Prices of food 
and rent have been advancing in Great Britain during the 
first decade of the twentieth century in spite of free trade. 
Wages, it is true, have also risen, but not so rapidly as prices; 
hence what are termed "real wages," or the purchasing 
power of wages, have actually fallen. 

During the years 1911-14 a series of general strikes took 
place that greatly alarmed both the Government and the 
An era of public. A strike of the seamen and firemen be- 
stnkes longing to the Transport Workers' Union took 

place in 191 1, which won for its members an increase in 
wages. It was followed by a strike of the railway em- 
ployees, numbering about a million men, who succeeded in 

1 A similar provision has been inserted in the annual budget ever since. 

2 See pp. 599 ff . 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 349 

tying up the transportation of the whole country; but only 
a partial victory was won by the union because of the vigor- 
ous action taken by the Government. In 19 12 came a 
strike of the miners, which proved so serious a menace to the 
industrial life of the nation that Parliament enacted a mini- 
mum wage law, according to which the wages of the miners 
were to be fixed, not by the employers solely, as formerly, 
but by wage boards representing the employers, the la- 
borers, and the Government. A second strike of the trans- 
port workers proved a failure. In 1913 a general strike of 
the Irish transport workers broke out in Dublin which was 
extremely bitter, many clashes taking place between the 
strikers and the police. James Larkin, the leader of the 
strikers, was arrested for preaching sedition and riot; but, 
owing to his popularity and to the general sympathy for 
the underpaid Irish workers, he was almost immediately 
released. The strike collapsed, but it led to the organiza- 
tion of an Irish Labor Party to represent the cause of the 
workingmen in the proposed Dublin Parliament. In 1914 
the public employees of Woolwich Arsenal went on strike. 
This, and the fact that the postal employees were forming 
a union, raised the question whether public employees had 
the right to organize and to strike against the Government 
which represented, not a group of capitalists, but the 
whole people. The general strike fever infected even the 
agricultural laborers, who once more began to form unions 
and to demand better conditions. 

A marked transformation was taking place in British trade 
unionism. The craft unions, composed of small groups of 
laborers engaged in special occupations, were Growth of 
giving place more and more to large industrial big indus- 

, . ,, , , r trial unions 

unions, composed 01 all the workers 01 a par- 
ticular industry. Trade-union membership was continually 
increasing, 1 but the number of unions was decreasing. In 
1914 the Miners' Federation, the National Union of Rail- 
way men, and the Transport Workers' Federation formed a 

1 From 1895 to 1914 there was an increase of one hundred and seventy-three 
per cent in the membership of the trade unions. 



350 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

triple alliance which, in case of a general strike, would re- 
sult in the calling out of over a million and a half men. 

The Land Question 

So deeply have the English people been absorbed in the 
development of their commerce and industry that only in 
s , recent years has any serious attention been de- 

land voted to the pressing problem of landlordism, 

monopo y ^ g we jj ave already seen, 1 the enclosure move- 
ment at the end of the eighteenth century resulted in the 
disappearance of the yeomanry and in the establishment of 
vast estates owned by a small group of titled aristocrats. 
Two thirds of all the land in England and Wales is owned 
by about ten thousand persons, and nine tenths of all 
Scotland by about seventeen hundred persons; fully one 
tenth of all of Great Britain is the property of twenty-seven 
dukes. Many of these large estates are "entailed," that 
is, they cannot be legally sold, mortgaged, or divided. The 
rural population consists of three general classes, the lords, 
or the owners of the land, the tenant farmers, or those who 
rent their farms for a definite period of years from the lords, 
and the agricultural laborers, or those who are employed 
by the farmers and the lords. 

Notwithstanding the great improvement in the methods 
of cultivation, the amount of food produced in England 
Decline of during the nineteenth century was not sufficient 
agriculture to SU ppiy the needs of the rapidly growing indus- 
trial population. The repeal of the Corn Laws seriously 
injured British agriculture, which could not stand the 
competition of the immense wheat-fields of North and 
South America. Cattle-raising, too, began to decline when 
the importation of beef and mutton became possible with 
the introduction of cold-storage methods of preserving meats 
in transit. 

In recent years Englishmen have been deeply concerned 
over their agricultural backwardness. Many have ques- 
tioned the wisdom of sacrificing agriculture for the sake of 

1 See p. 55. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 351 

industrial supremacy. A country like Great Britain, which 
is dependent almost entirely for its food supply R ev ; va j f 
upon foreign imports, is in a dangerous posi- interest in 

... c , , , , , agriculture 

tion in case 01 war; should her supremacy at 
sea be destroyed and her shores be effectively blockaded, 
the inhabitants might be brought to the point of starva- 
tion in a short time. Moreover, the decline of agriculture 
means the decline of the rural population, the most healthy 
element in the life of a nation. "We wish to develop our 
undeveloped estates," once declared Sir Henry Campbell- 
Bannerman, the Liberal Prime Minister, " and to colonize 
our own country. The health and stamina of the nation 
are bound up with the maintenance of a large class of 
workers on the soil. The town population redundant, the 
country population decimated, is a subversion of healthy 
national life." 

Land has peculiar attractions for certain classes of Eng- 
lishmen, because it brings social, political, and economic 
privileges and advantages to the owner. The Exemption 

highest social rank is accorded to the owner of ? f the ! ords 

, .. 1 1 , • • r from the 

an estate, who is generally the local justice 01 payment of 

the peace, controls the "living," or the appoint- rates 
ment of the Episcopal minister of the parish church, and 
takes precedence in all matters of consequence in his vicin- 
ity. Should the "squire," as he is called, desire to enter 
political life, he finds a ready-made constituency in his ten- 
ants. Landowners in England still possess great economic 
privileges, for they are to a considerable degree exempt from 
paying taxes on their estates. In general, it may be said 
that the English principle of land taxation is that the 
occupier pays the rates; hence the lord pays on that small 
portion only which he himself occupies; and he escapes pay- 
ment on all the rest, which is borne by his tenants. 1 Un- 
til the budget of 1909 the unoccupied parts of the estate — 
game preserves, parks, lawns, gardens — entirely escaped 

1 The amount of rent paid by the tenants is to some extent, however, regu- 
lated by the fact that they pay the rates; were the lord required to pay them he 
might demand higher rents. 



352 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

taxation. Considerable comment was aroused when the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George, in a speech on 
the budget of 1909, instanced the case of a tailor in Cardiff, 
Wales, who owned eight hundred square yards of land and 
was assessed £947, while his neighbor, the Marquis of Bute, 
who owned half a million square yards, was assessed only 
£921. It is with good reason, therefore, that Britain has 
been called "the landlord's paradise." 

The social and political advantages of landownership in 
Great Britain are so great that the cultivation of the soil it- 
Evils of the self is a matter of secondary importance. Large 
land system tracts of land are given over to sport, and fre- 
quently the lord spends more on the game preserves than he 
does for purely agricultural purposes; and so widespread is 
this practice that there has come into existence a "sporting 
tenant," who pays handsomely for the privilege of hunting 
on the estate. Severe punishment is meted out to those 
who poach on the game preserves of the lord. Land is con- 
stantly being withdrawn from cultivation and given over 
to sport. It has been computed that the arable land under 
cultivation shrank one and one half million acres during 
the two decades preceding the budget of 1909. 1 The tenant 
farmers are slow to cultivate the soil to the best advantage 
for the reason that they hold their farms on short leases. The 
improvements that they make belong to the owner of the 
land at the expiration of the lease, the law holding that 
he who owns the surface of the land owns also everything 
above and below it. Compensation for improvements and 
for damages done to the crops by the game is allowed, but 
it is small in amount and generally hard to collect. Rents 
are constantly rising, for the lord demands more from the 
tenant at every opportunity; and the insecurity of tenure 
due to short leases forces the farmer to pay the increase 
rather than give up the holding upon which he has ex- 
pended labor and money. 

Far worse than the lot of the tenants is the lot of the 

1 During the World War much of this waste land was put under cultivation 
in order to increase the food supply. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 353 

agricultural laborers. They work long hours, receive low 
wages, and are forced to live in " tied " cottages, 1 The agr i cu i_ 
the rent of which is computed in their wages, tural la- 
Strange as it may seem, there is a serious prob- 
lem of congestion in the English countryside. The cottages, 
although picturesque in appearance, are often overcrowded 
and unsanitary, as the owners refuse to improve them or 
to build new ones because they are not rented on a commer- 
cial basis. The agricultural laborers, unlike the factory 
workers, have not been able to form powerful unions be- 
cause they are so scattered throughout the country that it 
is difficult to organize them. All attempts to form unions 
have been frustrated by the lords and farmers, who have 
been able to inflict a double punishment upon the recalci- 
trants — loss of employment and eviction from their homes. 
In order to escape from the grip of the employers, thousands 
of rural laborers have crowded into the cities or have emi- 
grated to the colonies, so that England, although it is stud- 
ded here and there with teeming cities, has large areas that 
are thinly populated. 2 

A parliamentary commission was appointed to investigate 
the whole subject of the land; and its reports, issued in 1913- 
14, are of supreme importance in a study of the Report of 
question. It made the following recommenda- the P arha - 

. . . . mentary 

tions: (1) that Parliament enact a minimum commission 
wage law for agricultural laborers; (2) that rural on an 
housing conditions be reformed by the suppression of the 
" tied " cottages and by the building of new cottages at public 
expense; (3) that full compensation be paid to the tenant 
farmer for all improvements made by him and for damages 
done to his crops by game; (4) that the "sporting tenant" 
be abolished and the game laws be drastically altered; 
(5) that security of tenure be established by state regulation 
of leases and by a wider extension of the Small Holdings 

1 By a "tied " cottage is meant one that is a part of the estate. 

2 In 1914 only twenty-two per cent of the rural population of Great Britain 
lived in the country. 

3 In 1892 and in 1907 Parliament passed laws empowering the local county 
councils to purchase estates and to divide them into lots of less than fifty acres 



354 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Acts ; 3 and (6) that a Land Court be established with power 
to regulate the relations between landlords and tenants, to 
promote the well-being of the laborers, and to encourage 
the development of agriculture. The Liberal Party, under 
whose auspices the commission was appointed, favored this 
program. 

Faced with a growing sentiment against land monopoly, 
many Conservatives, although belonging to the party of 
The Con- tne landed aristocracy, favored some system of 
servative peasant proprietorship which would, at the same 

SOlUtlOn . 11 r i • r i 

time, allow for the existence of large estates. 
They hoped that in this way a still more powerful landed 
interest would be established consisting of numerous small 
proprietors who, led by the lords, would give added strength 
to the Conservative Party. They also favored a protective 
tariff on foodstuffs which, they claimed, would result in a 
revival of English agriculture. 

Although England is the most highly industrialized nation 
in the world, the power of her landed aristocracy has only 
Favorable been shaken, not broken. With the passage of the 
fh°e S English Reform Bill of 1832 it was shorn of half of its 
aristocracy political power; with the repeal of the Corn Laws 
it was deprived of special protection of its economic inter- 
ests ; with the enfranchisement of the lower classes it lost the 
prestige of being a political caste. But so long as land is a 
privileged form of property, its influence upon English life 
remains unbroken. The nobility still gives the social tone 
to the English people, fills the high offices in the State, con- 
trols the House of Lords, and has, as we have just seen, 
special privileges in matters of taxation. This is due partly 
to the high regard for caste felt by all classes of Englishmen, 
who have never democratized themselves socially as they 
have politically ; and partly to the good sense of the aristo- 
crats themselves. A striking characteristic of the English 
aristocracy is that it is conservative, not reactionary. It 

each, to be let to tenants on liberal terms. These Small Holdings Acts were 
passed with the purpose of encouraging the agricultural laborers to remain on 
the land by becoming tenants, not of a private but of a public landlord. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 355 

will fight progressive measures stubbornly and bitterly; but, 
once these have been established, it will not seek to undo 
them. The English aristocracy may, therefore, be trusted to 
maintain the status quo, whatsoever that may be. This atti- 
tude has satisfied both liberal and conservative elements 
of the nation, the former because it knew that sufficient 
pressure would bring concessions, and the latter because it 
knew that revolutionary changes would be impossible. And 
so the English aristocracy has been able to survive in the 
hostile environment of modern democracy. 

Social England 

The French Revolution gave the momentum to modern 
political democracy. Through agitation and reform in Eng- 
land, and through agitation and revolution on Political de- 
the Continent, the equality before the law of all ^problems 
classes, of all faiths, and of all opinions was to a it solved 
large degree firmly established. Universal manhood suffrage 
was likewise granted, and the control of the State passed 
from autocratic and aristocratic hands to the masses of the 
people. But the problems that political democracy had 
solved were mainly those which affected the middle classes, 
for the Industrial Revolution, by establishing an entirely 
new environment for the millions of workingmen who came 
into being with the factory system, created far more prob- 
lems than political democracy had solved. 

England, the eldest daughter of the Industrial Revolu- 
tion, had forged ahead of all other nations. Her manufac- 
turers, merchants, capitalists, and shipbuilders Unequal 
reaped immense wealth, but the great mass of distribution 
her workingmen shared only slightly in this pros- 
perity. Few as were the benefits derived by the working 
classes, they, on the other hand, suffered in full measure 
from all the evils of the new system: unemployment, low 
wages, long hours, child labor, industrial accidents, and 
industrial diseases. Great wealth and dire poverty are strik- 
ingly evident in modern England. According to the most 
authoritative writers, three per cent of the population of 



356 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the United Kingdom is classified as rich, nine per cent 
as comfortable, and eighty-eight per cent as poor. 1 About 
one half of the entire income of the nation is enjoyed by 
twelve per cent of the population and one third by three 
per cent. Millions live on the verge of starvation. In 
London this is true of as much as thirty per cent of the in- 
habitants. Poverty, like wealth, descends from one gener- 
ation to another of the English poor, frequently resulting 
in physical and moral retrogression. 

Many Englishmen became deeply concerned about the 
condition of the masses, for they feared that the stamina of 
Agitation the English race would be undermined, which 
for social might possibly lead to national ruin in case of a 
conflict with a powerful enemy. 2 It was clearly 
realized that charity, whether private or public, could do 
but little to solve the problem of poverty. There was only 
one power, the State, reaching into every corner of the land 
and controlling every individual in the nation, that was 
sufficiently powerful to cope with the situation. A new 
school of writers, notably Sidney and Beatrice Webb, 
George Bernard Shaw, and L. G. Chiozza- Money, appeared, 
who forcefully advocated that the State itself should be- 
come active in bettering social conditions in order to help 
those that were handicapped in the struggle for existence. 

The beginning of the twentieth century witnessed a strik- 
ing change in the social and political structure of Great Bri- 
Abandon- tain. The liberal England of Gladstone, with her 
ment of concern for political freedom, religious toleration, 

and individual liberty, was transformed into a 
radical England that was far more deeply concerned about 
the social and economic welfare of her people. Radical and 
even revolutionary forces, socialism and syndicalism, that 
had long been active among the lower classes, now rose to 
the surface of English society, and challenged the existing 
middle-class order, just as a century before the forces of 

1 Charles Booth, Life and Labor of the People in London; L. G. Chiozza- 
Money, Riches and Poverty ; and H. S. Rowntree, Poverty. 

2 During the Boer War the physical requirements for the army had to be 
lowered in order to get sufficient recruits. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 357 

democracy had challenged those of aristocracy. As a con- 
sequence, the historic English policy of laissez faire was 
completely abandoned, and the State became actively inter- 
ested in labor, bringing the weight of its authority to bear 
on the solution of this problem in the interest of all classes 
in general and in that of the working classes in particular. 
The entrance of the State in the new role of social benefac- 
tor marked a revolution in British politics. 

When the Liberals came back into power, in 1906, they 
found an accumulation of domestic problems. During the 
decade of Conservative rule, imperial matters The Liberal 
had taken precedence over domestic; and the Ministr y 
enormous Liberal majority was partly due to the general 
discontent with the Salisbury and Balfour Ministries be- 
cause of their sterility in the matter of social and political 
reform. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman became Prime 
Minister in 1906; two years later he was succeeded by Her- 
bert Henry Asquith, who remained at the head of the Gov- 
ernment till 1 91 6. With them were associated a remarkable 
group of statesmen: John Morley, the venerable historian 
and philosopher; John Burns, the former labor leader, now 
a Cabinet Minister; W T inston Churchill, an aristocrat by 
birth, but a radical in his views; Sir Edward Grey, a Foreign 
Minister who was destined to play a great part in the drama 
of 19 14; and David Lloyd George. The transformation of 
England into a social state was the work of this Liberal 
Ministry, effectively aided by the Labor Party with which 
it was closely allied. 

Chief among the architects of social England was Lloyd 
George (1863- ), whose rise to power in British politics has 
been most phenomenal. The child of a poor Lloyd 
Welsh schoolmaster, Lloyd George had none of Geor § e 
the advantages of wealth, education, or social position to 
aid him; he therefore had to depend upon his own hard 
work and native intelligence to make his career. He be- 
came a lawyer in his little home town and was elected to 
Parliament as a Liberal, where he identified himself with the 
radicals who were urging the party of Gladstone to embark 



358 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

on the new path of social reform. During the Boer War 
Lloyd George was prominent as a bitter opponent of the 
Conservative Government, which he fiercely denounced for 
waging war against a simple, peaceful people in the interest 
of the capitalist exploiters of South Africa. He exhibited 
extraordinary powers as a popular orator, and became so 
influential in his party that, when the Liberal Ministry was 
formed, he was made a member of the Cabinet as President 
of the Board of Trade. In 1908 he was appointed to the 
position of Chancellor of the Exchequer, second in impor- 
tance only to that of the Premier. Thereafter he was the 
leading figure in British politics, as nearly all the great laws 
passed during the Asquith Ministry were inspired or fash- 
ioned by him. Few men in English politics were so enthusi- 
astically acclaimed and so bitterly denounced as this "little 
Welsh attorney," as Lloyd George was called by his oppo- 
nents. He became the voice and the arm of the new radical 
England that was bent upon a reconstruction of the social 
system in favor of the poor and the unfortunate. By the 
Conservatives he was regarded as the uncompromising 
enemy of their interests, and they consequently hated him 
most cordially. Gifted with a keen intelligence, a winning 
personality, burning eloquence, and, above all with a social 
imagination, Lloyd George became the popular idol of his 
countrymen, who turned to him, as they had once turned to 
Gladstone, to lead them in the battle for reform. 

Premier Herbert Henry Asquith (1852- ), a disciple of 

Gladstone, was for many years active in Liberal politics. 

He is a clear, forceful speaker and a man of much 

Asquith . 

weight in English public life because of his ex- 
perience and moderation. But as Premier his abilities lay 
rather in harmonizing the radical and conservative elements 
in the Liberal Party than in initiating new policies. 

The large increase in the military and naval expenditures, 
Financial as we ^ as tne nee d °f funds to pay the old-age 
problem of pensions established in 1908, x created a seri- 
ous financial problem for the Asquith Ministry. 
The solution put forward by the Conservatives was a protec- 

1 See p. 365. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 359 

tive tariff which, they declared, would produce sufficient 
money; but the Liberals, being free-traders, had to find 
another way. Lloyd George's solution was to " lay the heav- 
iest burden on the broadest back," or to raise money by 
taxing the rich ; and he openly declared that the tax collec- 
tor would in the future ask not only, "How much have 
you?" but, " How did you get it?" 

With this in view he introduced the famous budget of 
1909. The main provisions of this measure were: (1) an 
"unearned increment" duty of twenty per cent The budget 
on the increase in the value of land when due to of I9 ° 9 
site and not to improvement by the owner, on the ground 
that the public should get some return for the values which 
it creates — "luck sharing," the Chancellor called this 
provision; (2) a "reversion" duty of ten per cent on the 
increase in the value of land leased for over twenty-one 
years, to be paid by the lessor on the expiration of the 
lease; (3) an undeveloped-land duty of two per cent on idle 
land, and particularly on game preserves; and (4) a mineral- 
rights duty of five per cent on mining royalties. Land used 
for agricultural purposes was to be exempt from the new 
taxes. These taxes, although quite moderate, were impor- 
tant in that they constituted an attack on the economic 
privileges of the landed aristocracy. This was a " war bud- 
get," declared the Chancellor, the object of which was to 
wage warfare against poverty, which he hoped would some 
day be " as remote to the people of this country as the wolves 
which once infested its forests." 

The budget and its author were assailed by the aristo- 
crats with a bitterness unparalleled in English history since 
the Reform Bill of 1832. It was denounced in The struggle 
the House of Lords as a social and political rev- ov er the 
olution without a mandate from the people, as 
a subversion of the English Constitution, and as a demagogic 
attempt to confiscate private property in land. Feeling 
ran high on both sides. Lloyd George, as the chief pro- 
tagonist of the "People's Budget," delivered eloquent 
speeches, both inside and outside of Parliament, which 



360 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

aroused the wildest enthusiasm among the middle and lower 
classes, who hailed him as their champion against the aristoc- 
racy. In one of his speeches the Chancellor threateningly 
asked these questions: "Who ordained that a few should 
have the land of Great Britain as a perquisite? Who made 
ten thousand people owners of the soil and the rest of us 
trespassers in the land of our birth? . . . Where did the 
table of the law come from? Whose finger inscribed it?" 
The budget passed the Commons by an overwhelming ma- 
jority, but it was thrown out by the Lords. In defeating 
the measure the Lords had violated the historic precedent 
that required the enactment of money bills passed by the 
lower House. Immediately the following resolution was 
passed by the Commons: "The action of the House of Lords 
in refusing to pass into law the financial provision made 
by the House for the service of the year is a breach of the 
constitution and a usurpation of the rights of the Com- 
mons." Premier Asquith declared that the "power of the 
purse," once used against the Crown, would now be used 
against the Lords. Parliament was then dissolved and an 
election followed in January, 1910, with the budget as the 
issue beween the parties. 

The result was a disappointment to both, as 274 Liberals, 
273 Conservatives, 82 Irish Nationalists, and 41 Laborites 
The Liberal- were elected. Liberals and Conservatives being 
Labor- Irish evenly balanced, a coalition was formed of Lib- 
erals, Irish Nationalists, and Laborites, which 
re-passed the budget in the Commons. True to the precedent 
of 1832 1 the Lords now also passed it. Unfortunately for the 
latter, however, the Liberal Ministry was dependent for its 
existence on the support of the Nationalists and Laborites, 
two uncompromising enemies of the aristocracy, who were 
determined to undermine its influence, the Irish because the 
Lords would oppose a Home Rule Bill, and the Laborites 
because the Lords would oppose their radical program. 

During the campaign the Lords were almost as much of 
an issue as the budget itself. Their action in throwing out 

1 See p. 61. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 361 

the budget was denounced by the Liberals, not only as un- 
constitutional, but also as selfish and unpatriotic, The s _ 
since they refused to share in the financial bur- tion of the 
dens of the nation. The question of the rela- 
tion between the two Houses now came prominently before 
the public. In spite of the precedent established by the 
Reform Bill of 1832, the Lords continued to exercise almost 
as much legislative power as the Commons. Though it is 
true that the former could not oust a Ministry, yet it could 
foil the plans of the popular chamber by opposing its bills. 
Theoretically the representatives of the people in its more 
sober mood, "the nation's second thought," the Lords in 
reality represented the economic interests of the landed 
aristocracy and the political interests of the Conservative 
Party, as at all times an overwhelming majority of the 
upper House was of this class and party. When the Con- 
servatives were in the majority in the House, the Lords 
would pass all bills sent up by the Commons. Many fre- 
quently absented themselves from the sessions, knowing that 
they had nothing to fear from a Conservative Government. 
But when the Liberals were in power, the Lords attended 
assiduously to their duties. They would scrutinize bills 
closely, frequently make drastic modifications, and some- 
times defeat important measures. Hence the Conservative 
Party, when out of power, always relied on the Lords to 
obstruct the legislation of its opponents. This so exasper- 
ated the Liberals that they often threatened "to mend or 
end " the Lords. But no decisive action was taken for a long 
time, because it was felt that, should a great issue arise such 
as arose in 1832, the aristocracy would yield to the will of 
the people. 

When the Liberals returned to power in 1906 they intro- 
duced three important measures to which they were pledged: 
(1) the abolition of plural voting; (2) the regu- The Camp- 
lation of the liquor traffic; and (3) the repeal of ,^ an Resoiu- 
the Education Act of 1902. l These measures were tion 
all passed by the Commons, but were thrown out by the 

1 See p. 342. 



362 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Lords. The anger of the Liberals now rose to a high pitch, 
and on June 24, 1907, Parliament passed the following res- 
olution introduced by Premier Campbell-Bannerman: 
"That in order to give effect to the will of the people as 
expressed by elected representatives, it is necessary that 
the power of the other House to alter or reject bills passed 
by this House shall be so restricted by law as to secure that, 
within the limit of a single Parliament, the final decision of 
the Commons shall prevail." 

When the budget of 1909 came before the Lords, its most 
distinguished member, Lord Rosebery, although strongly op- 
The Liberal P ose< ^ to the measure, advised the body to pass it 
and Conser- on the ground that its rejection would be fol- 
tions of 3 the lowed by a determined effort to reduce the powers 
Lords ques- f the upper House. In a speech to his colleagues 
he made the following significant statement: 
"The menaces which were addressed to this House in the 
old days were addressed by statesmen who had at heart 
the balance of the constitutional forces in this country. 
The menaces addressed to you now come from a wholly 
different school of opinion, who wish for a single chamber 
and who set no value on the controlling and revising forces 
of a Second Chamber — a school of opinion which, if you 
like it and do not dread the word, is eminently revolution- 
ary in essence, if not in fact." After the rejection of the 
budget, the Liberals and their allies, the Irish and the La- 
borites, re-passed the resolution of 1907. The Lords now be- 
came alarmed, and they in turn adopted a resolution, in- 
troduced by the Earl of Rosebery, which declared that the 
existence of a strong and efficient Second Chamber was an 
essential part of the British system of government, but that 
the possession of a peerage should no longer of itself entitle 
the holder to a seat in the Lords. The Conservative Party, 
as spokesman for the Lords, proposed the following plan of 
reform: (1) that in case of a disagreement between the 
two Houses, the matter in dispute should be submitted to 
the people themselves in the form of a referendum; (2) that 
the upper House should consist of peers elected by the entire 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 363 

peerage, of high administrative officials, and of appointees 
of the Government; and (3) that the Lords should forego 
their constitutional right to reject or amend money bills. 
The Liberal solution of the House of Lords question was to 
reduce the powers of the House materially, but to make no 
change in the character of its membership; the Conserva- 
tive solution, on the contrary, was to maintain the powers 
of the body unaltered, but to change its membership so as 
to admit of the possibility of a Liberal majority. 

In December, 1910, Parliament was again dissolved and 
an exciting election followed on the issue of "the Peers versus 
the People." The result of this election was The p ar u a _ 
almost the same as the preceding one in January ment Act of 
of the same year, and the Asquith Ministry con- 
tinued in office. Almost immediately the famous Parlia- 
ment Act was introduced in the Commons. It provided: 
(1) that any bill specified by the Speaker of the Commons 
as a money bill which passes the lower House must also 
pass the Lords within one month ; otherwise it becomes 
law without their consent; (2) that all other bills, if passed 
in three successive sessions of the Commons, whether by 
the same House or not, within two years, become law with 
or without the consent of the Lords; and (3) that the 
duration of a Parliament shall henceforth be limited to 
five instead of to seven years. The Commons passed the 
measure, but it was thrown out by the Lords. Once more, 
as in 1832, arose the problem of passing a bill in the face 
of the opposition of the Lords, and once more it was solved 
in a similar manner. Premier Asquith appealed to King 
George V and received guarantees from the Crown that 
peers pledged in support of the bill would be created in 
sufficient numbers to insure its passage. The Lords, con- 
fronted with the prospect of being "swamped," yielded, and 
the bill became law on August 18, 191 1. 

As great a change in the British system of government 
was wrought by the Parliament Act as by the importance 
Reform Bill of 1832. It fixed anew the relation of the act 
between the two Houses by giving almost unchecked power 



364 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to the Commons and merely a suspensive veto to the 
Lords; in effect, it established a single-chamber government 
for England. Instead of following the French policy of 
abolishing institutions opposed to democratic ideas, the 
English have endeavored to preserve the continuity of their 
national life by keeping ancient institutions intact, but de- 
priving them of all real power. The House of Lords, like 
the Crown, is now an honored appendage, not an integral 
part of the British system. 

During the early part of the twentieth century England 
began a series of bold experiments in the field of social legis- 
The Factory Nation which was to have far-reaching effects 
and Mine on the life and character of her people. The 
factory legislation was unified in a single code, 
issued in 1902, which embodied the chief factory reforms 
gained during the nineteenth century, and added new and 
more drastic provisions in order to remedy some of the 
worst evils of the industrial system. The employment of 
children under twelve in a factory was forbidden ; the labor 
of those between the ages of twelve and eighteen was 
strictly regulated as to hours, holidays, overtime, and meals; 
in the textile industry a ten-hour day was established for all 
labor; and factory sanitation was carefully regulated. In 
1906 Parliament adopted a Mine Code, which regulated 
conditions in the mines as the Factory Code did in the fac- 
tories. The employment of women and children was for- 
bidden; conditions in the mines were minutely regulated; 
and severe penalties were provided for infractions of the 
rules. Two years later (1908) Parliament established an 
eight-hour day for all labor in the mines. 

To better the conditions of employment in factory and 
mine was to go but a slight distance toward the solution of 
Insecurity the soc i a l problems. Poverty due to low wages 
of the work- was a great evil, but a still greater evil was the 
insecurity felt by millions of workingmen, who 
might at any time find themselves utterly destitute, not 
because of their fault or of that of their employers, but 
because of accidents, illness, unemployment, and old age. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 365 

"The root trouble of our social system is the precariousness 
of living," declared Lloyd George. Something had to be 
done by the community as represented by the State "to fill 
up the gaps in the life of the industrial classes," by giving 
a sense of security to the millions who were at the mercy of 
modern industrialism. 

In 1906 a Workmen's Compensation Act was passed 
which compels employers to compensate their workingmen 
for injury or disease sustained in the course of Workmen's 
employment without appeal by the latter to the Compensa- 
courts of law. Compensation is graded accord- 
ing to the seriousness of the injury; in case of the death 
of an employee his wages are paid to his dependents for three 
years. This law recognizes the principle that a workingman 
is a part of the industrial machine; hence the responsibility 
for his well-being is placed on the employer. 

To remedy the evil of poverty in old age, Parliament, in 
1908, passed the Old-Age Pensions Act. This law provides 
for pensions averaging about a dollar a week old-Age 
to be paid by the Government to laborers who Pensions 
reach the age of seventy, no previous contri- 
bution being required from them. The arguments advanced 
in favor of this law were that it is the duty of the State to 
care for the veterans of industry, and that the pension, 
although not large enough to support a man, may yet save 
him from the disgrace of going to the poorhouse. The law 
was opposed by the Conservatives because it was non- 
contributory. They argued that it would tend to weaken 
the spirit of self-reliance of the laborer, and that it would 
prove a great burden on the taxpayers. 

The year 1909 was very fruitful in social legislation. 
Parliament passed the Labor Exchanges Act, The Labor 
establishing a national system of employment Exchanges, 
bureaus to remedy the evil of unemployment. Boards, and 
It also passed the Trade Boards Act, providing I^Tj"^ , 
for the establishment of wage boards in the Planning 
"sweated" trades, which employ men and 
women at low wages and for long hours. The wage boards, 



366 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

representing the workers, employers, and the Government, 
have power to regulate wages and conditions in those trades. 
Another law was the Housing and Town Planning Act, the 
purpose of which was to reduce congestion in the large cities 
by permitting the local authorities to build houses for the 
working class. 

By far the most radical example of English social legis- 
lation was the National Insurance Act of 191 1, fathered by 
Social in- Lloyd George. Its essential feature is that in- 
arguments 16 surance against sickness and unemployment on 
pro and con the part of the workingmen is made contributory 
and compulsory. The act was modeled to a considerable 
degree on the sickness insurance law of Germany ; but Eng- 
land extended the system by including insurance against 
unemployment. When the plan for national insurance was 
introduced in Parliament, it encountered the bitter oppo- 
sition of the Conservatives, both in principle and in de- 
tail. They declared that, by making insurance compul- 
sory, the act violated the English ideal of individual 
freedom and established a principle foreign to Englishmen, 
namely, the control of the individual by the State; they 
favored, on the contrary, a system of insurance based on 
the voluntary principle. In reply the Liberals, led by Lloyd 
George, asserted that sufficient provision had been made 
for voluntary insurance for the better-to-do workingmen, 
but for the very poor, who were either unable or unwilling 
to insure themselves, compulsion coupled with state aid 
was necessary, otherwise they would continue to suffer the 
miserable lot created for them by modern industry. 

The act finally passed after a prolonged struggle in Par- 
liament. It is divided into two parts: (1) insurance against 
The Na- sickness and invalidity, and (2) insurance against 
tional In- unemployment. All employed persons between 

surance Act J , r . , , . , n i 

the ages 01 sixteen and sixty-nve earning less 
than eight hundred dollars a year must insure against sick- 
ness and invalidity. The fund is made up of contributions 
from the employers, workers, and the State, on the ground 
that it is to the interest of all three to have a healthy, con- 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 367 

tented body of laborers. Various kinds of benefits are given: 
(1) a sickness benefit of two and a half dollars a week for 
twenty-six weeks ; (2) an invalidity benefit, in case of serious 
injury, of a dollar and a quarter a week to the age of seventy, 
when the old-age pensions begin; (3) free medical attendance 
by physicians appointed by the State ; and (4) a maternity 
benefit of seven and a half dollars to wives of insured men 
at the birth of a child. Against unemployment there is a 
separate system of insurance. Like that against sickness, it 
is compulsory and applies to employed persons earning less 
than eight hundred dollars a year; only certain trades, how- 
ever, those in which there is a high degree of unemployment, 
come within the scope of this law. The fund is made up of 
contributions from the employers, employed, and the State; 
and the benefit is a dollar and three quarters a week for fif- 
teen weeks. At the age of sixty, the laborer receives back his 
contributions with interest, minus the sum he had received 
as benefit. The principle underlying this form of insurance 
is that society as a whole, and not the laborer alone, should 
bear the burden of unemployment, which is now recognized 
as a maladjustment created by industrial conditions. 

This important social legislation of the Asquith Ministry 
did much to ameliorate the lot of the working classes and 
constitutes its chief title to fame. The effects of R esu i ts f 
this legislation were made visible in the new at- ? oc ' ia l le s- 
titude toward the State assumed by the lower 
classes, who now felt more strongly than ever that England 
was their country as well as that of the upper classes. 
When the World War broke out in 19 14, and Great Britain 
found herself face to face with her great enemy, Germany, 
all classes, without distinction, rallied with patriotic fervor 
to the defense of the flag. 

Economic Progress 
Although British commerce and industry have been con- 
tinually advancing since 1870 and England has The cotton 
grown in wealth and prosperity, some industries industr y 
have advanced but slowly, others have remained sta- 



368 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

tionary, and a few have actually declined. Cotton manu- 
facturing, constituting about one quarter of the entire Brit- 
ish export trade, continues to maintain its supremacy. This 
industry is concentrated in Lancashire where Manches- 
ter, the cotton metropolis of the world, is located. Directly 
and indirectly about three million persons gain their liveli- 
hood in the English cotton industry, which depends for its 
raw material mainly on America. Recently America, Ger- 
many, and Russian Poland have become large producers of 
cotton cloth, which is protected from English competition 
by high tariffs ; consequently Lancashire has been compelled 
to specialize in the production of the finest grades of this 
cloth, in which, because of the skill of her operators, she is 
able to defy all competition. 

British shipping has advanced remarkably in spite of the 
rivalry of Germany. 1 Not only do the British shipyards 
_,. . build vessels for other nations, but about two 

thirds of all the world's shipping is carried in 
British bottoms that earn handsome profits for their owners. 
The three great ship-building centers of the world are 
Glasgow on the Clyde, Newcastle on the Tyne, and Belfast 
Harbor in Ireland. 

During the first half of the nineteenth century England 
was the chief producer of coal and iron. Although England's 
Coal and output of coal kept increasing, she was outdis- 
iron tanced by the United States in the production of 

this commodity. 2 In her iron production England showed 
an actual decline both positively and relatively, and she fell 
far behind the United States and Germany as an iron and 
steel producing country. 3 

Great alarm has been felt in England because of the un- 

1 Between 1870 and 1910 the British merchant marine more than doubled 
in tonnage; in 1910-11 Great Britain produced forty-six per cent of the total 
increase in the tonnage of the world, and in 1913 more than fifty per cent of the 
total increase. 

2 In 1880 England produced 147,000,000 tons of coal, which rose in 1910 to 
264,500,000 tons. In 1875 Great Britain produced forty-eight per cent of the 
coal of the world, which sank to forty per cent in 1885, to thirty-three per cent 
in 1895, to twenty-five per cent in 1905, and to twenty-four per cent in 191 1. 

3 In 1880 England produced 18,000,000 tons of iron ore, which fell in 1910 
to 15,226,000 tons. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 369 

favorable balance of trade caused by the growing excess of 
imports over exports. 1 It is feared by some that Foreign 
if England continues to produce so much less trade 
than she consumes, she will, in time, cease to be the "work- 
shop of the world," as her exports are almost entirely of 
manufactured goods. The unfavorable balance of trade is 
partly to be explained by the fact that the amounts earned 
by British shipowners in carrying the goods of other nations 
constitute "invisible exports," and partly by the fact that 
the income from foreign investments of British capitalists is 
often paid in kind and not in cash; hence these amounts 
figure as imports. The growth of England as an investing 
nation has been truly remarkable. It is estimated that in 
19 1 3 over seventeen billion dollars of British capital was 
invested in colonial and foreign enterprises. The national 
economy of England is therefore to some extent dependent 
upon shipping and foreign investments to earn sufficient 
to pay for her excess imports. 

During the latter part of the nineteenth century Great 
Britain's industrial leadership was challenged by a new 
competitor, Germany. The latter's inroads into English and 
British markets caused much uneasiness, and business 
Parliament passed a law compelling German methods 
goods in England to bear the label " Made in Germany," in 
order to distinguish them from the domestic product. Much 
to the chagrin of the English, however, the label had the 
effect of widely advertising the German goods. The foreign 
trade of both nations was increasing, but that of Germany 
at a much faster pace, 2 which greatly alarmed British manu- 
facturers, for the reason that England, being a free- trade 

1 In 1910 the imports exceeded the exports by about $1,245,000,000. 

2 The total foreign trade of England in 1872 was about $3,000,000,000, 
which, in 1913, rose to about $6,500,000,000, an increase of 220 per cent; that 
of Germany in 1872 was about $1,500,000,000, which, in 1913, rose to about 
$5,100,000,000, an increase of 340 per cent. In the matter of exports the rivalry 
between England and Germany in recent times has been very keen. During 
the decade 1903-13 the exports of England rose from about $1,450,000,000 to 
about $2,630,000,000; those of Germany from about $1,232,000,000 to $2,520,- 
000,000. Germany's exports more than doubled, while those of England less 
than doubled; moreover, the addition to Germany's exports during this decade 
was actually larger than that of England. 



370 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

country, depends mainly upon her foreign markets for her 
industrial prosperity. There are several causes for this rela- 
tive decline of England's leadership. In the first place, her 
business men have held the industrial field for so long a time 
that they rely more upon prestige than upon initiative; 
hence they have been exceedingly slow in introducing the 
new scientific methods of manufacture. They hesitate to 
"scrap" old plants and to depart from time-honored meth- 
ods. The German business men, on the contrary, have 
shown greater enterprise in building new factories, in instal- 
ling new machinery, and in applying scientific methods to 
the process of manufacture and to management in spite of 
heavy initial costs. 1 Technical education in England, until 
quite recently, has been very backward, and her industries 
have not had the advantage of being run, like those in Ger- 
many, by highly trained experts. Secondly, there have been 
serious weaknesses in the English methods of marketing. 
English exporters put up goods in form, design, and color, to 
suit the English taste, with the result that many foreigners 
prefer to buy from the Germans, who cater to their tastes. 
The German exporters are also willing to grant the demand 
of many foreign merchants, particularly those in South 
America, for small sales and long credits, and have therefore 
been able to oust the English, who are less willing to do this. 
Thirdly, the German manufacturers, sheltered behind their 
high protective tariffs, have been able to "dump" their sur- 
plus goods in free-trade Britain. By "dumping" is meant 
the practice of selling goods in a foreign country even below 
cost in order to destroy the competition of the native pro- 
duct; that once accomplished, the price of the foreign article 
is raised to a profitable point. 

At the beginning of the twentieth century a powerful 
movement known as " tariff reform " appeared in England 
Tariff re- which aimed to substitute a system of protec- 
form £} ve t ar iff s for that of free trade. It was initiated 

by Joseph Chamberlain in a widely quoted speech delivered 
byhimin 1903. Chamberlain " viewed with alarm " the grow- 

1 See p. 303. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 371 

ing excess of imports over exports; in his opinion the size 
of the latter was the test of the prosperity of the country. 
"Agriculture has been practically destroyed," he declared, 
"sugar has gone, silk has gone, iron is threatened, cotton 
will go." He advocated a scheme of imperial preference, or 
the economic union of Great Britain with her colonies, on 
the basis of free trade among themselves and a tariff on 
foreign goods. This system, he declared, would insure to 
the British a market for their manufactures and, to the col- 
onies a market for their raw material. Chamberlain further- 
more stated that imperial preference would have the effect 
of drawing the colonies and the mother country into a closer 
union; otherwise, according to him, they would inevitably 
drift apart. 1 

A Tariff Reform League was organized for the purpose of 
conducting an agitation to convert the British people £0 
protection. The tariff reformers declared that Free trade 
the policy of free trade was adopted by England versus pro- 
with the idea that the other nations would soon 
follow her example ; but instead they adopted the system 
of high protective tariffs. The British manufacturer was, 
therefore, doubly at the mercy of his foreign competitor, 
who kept out British goods by hostile tariffs and "dumped " 
his surplus goods into England unhindered. High tariffs on 
both industrial and agricultural products to protect the 
British manufacturers and farmers was the plan advocated 
by the tariff reformers, who finally succeeded in committing 
the Conservative Party to this policy. The Liberals opposed 
protection on the ground that it would destroy the great 
foreign trade on which England's prosperity depended and 
increase the cost of living by keeping out cheap foreign 
food. Opposition to the "dear loaf" proved so effective 
that the Conservatives were compelled to hedge on the 
question of a tariff on food, much to the disgust of the landed 
interests. Unfortunately for the protectionists, England's 
trade in recent years has been exceedingly prosperous, 
which has had the effect of keeping her loyal to free trade. 

1 See p. 421. 



372 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Literature 

The second half of the nineteenth century saw the Vic- 
torian Age at its very highest. Although lacking a supreme 
-> master like Shakespeare, it surpassed all other 

1 ennyson . , . 

periods of English literature in the number of 
writers of the first rank that it produced. Alfred, Lord Ten- 
nyson (1809-92), was the poetic voice of Victorian England, 
for no other writer of this period expressed its moods and 
ideals as faithfully as did he. The spirit of Tennyson's work 
is a calm and serene acceptance of the order established in 
state, church, and society; he nowhere exhibits either the 
revolutionary outbursts of Byron and Shelley or the mild 
humanitarianism of Wordsworth. Tennyson is, above all 
else, a great artist, a master of color, form, and music, who 
"jeweled and polished" his verse into haunting meters that 
won him extraordinary popularity throughout the English- 
speaking world. His almost flawless poetic art enables 
him to invest conventional ideals with an enchanting at- 
mosphere, which transforms them into very models of 
purity and goodness. In his great elegy, In Memoriam, 
Tennyson becomes philosophical and discourses upon hu- 
man destiny and the immortality of human love with the 
hopeful assurance that there is 

"One God, one law, one element, 
And one far-off divine event, 
To which the whole creation moves." 

Robert Browning (1812-89), with whom Tennyson has 
often been contrasted, is the supreme philosophic poet 
of English literature. Browning's verse, unlike 
that of Tennyson, is not musical and flowing; 
frequently his meters are ragged and his meaning obscure. 
But what he lacks in melody he makes up in vigor, original- 
ity, and depth. Browning's chief interest is to stress "the 
incidents in the development of a soul"; little else he con- 
sidered worthy of study. To seek the individual soul, to 
analyze its reactions upon the problems of life, and to find 
the moral sources of action is his favorite method. He ex- 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 373 

eels in subtle — sometimes too subtle — analysis of ethical 
problems and in the portrayal of characters faced by moral 
crises. Browning was a true Victorian in that he believed that 
man was essentially a moral being living in a universe gov- 
erned by moral laws. He therefore had a robust faith in the 
eventual triumph of the good and the true over the evil and 
the false. He describes himself as 

"One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, 
Never doubted clouds would break, 
Never dreamed, tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph, 
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 
Sleep to wake." 

Browning was a prophet, and like all prophets he had a 
tendency to be obscure, which, for a long time, prejudiced 
the reading public against him. But some of his poems, es- 
pecially the shorter ones, give evidence of simplicity and 
melody worthy of comparison with the best of Tennyson's. 
His masterpiece is The Ring and the Book, a long poem in 
which a murder is described by different characters, each 
telling the same tale from his own viewpoint and in doing 
so revealing unconsciously his own character. The poem 
is a remarkable study of the moral psychology of different 
temperaments. 

Matthew Arnold (1822-88), essayist, critic, and poet, 
was one of the great intellectual influences of his generation. 
There could be no greater contrast than that 
between Carlyle and Arnold as to temperament, 
method, and aim, although both were censors of the men 
and morals of their age. Carlyle thundered against vices 
and shams and stridently preached his gospel of the "Ever- 
lasting Yea" and the "Everlasting Nay." But the "elegant 
Jeremiah," Arnold, in a spirit of "sweet reasonableness" 
and in a manner refined and urbane, reproached his fellow 
countrymen for their bad taste, provincialism, and lack of 
interest in ideas. The "Philistines," as he called the nar- 
row-minded, self-satisfied people of the middle classes, the 
' ' strong, dogged, unenlightened opponents of the chosen people, 
of the children of the light," were his especial abhorrence. 



374 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The supreme aim of life, in his view, ought to be "culture," 
or intellectual and moral perfection. This "apostle of cul- 
ture," as Arnold was called, was temperamentally opposed 
to all partisanships and dogmatisms, and was tolerant to- 
ward all ideas, and especially to those that were new or for- 
eign. Like Erasmus he firmly believed that true and lasting 
progress can only be made by allowing the intellect to play 
freely on the problems of life; "sweetness and light" would 
then be the outcome, and mankind would become mellow, 
kindly, and tolerant. 

As a critic Arnold resembled the Frenchman, Sainte- 
Beuve. 1 Like the latter he believed that the chief duty of a 
critic was to "exhibit" the author in every possible way in 
order to stimulate the readers to think for themselves. Lit- 
erature Arnold defined as "the best which has been thought 
and said in the world " ; and the first requisite of a critic was 
"disinterestedness," or detachment from schools, dogmas, 
and systems. It should be remembered that the Victorian 
Age was notable for its scientific advance, and the writings 
of Darwin and Huxley profoundly affected the literary men 
of the day. Influenced by the scientific spirit, Arnold came 
to doubt the truths of revealed religion, though he never 
entirely broke away from Christianity; he sought rather to 
give it new interpretations and new values. Religion he 
defined as "morality touched with emotion"; God, as a 
"stream of tendency not ourselves making for righteous- 
ness." He regarded the Bible as a great work of "litera- 
ture," describing the history and experiences of the ancient 
Hebrew people. Arnold's best-known works are Culture and 
Anarchy, Essays in Criticism, and Literature and Dogma. 

An inspiring figure during the latter part of the nine- 
teenth century was John Ruskin (1819-1900), art critic, 
social reformer, and ethical teacher. Possessed 
of a vivid sense for natural beauty and of a mas- 
terly descriptive power, Ruskin created a sensation in Eng- 
land on the publication of his art criticisms. In his opinion 
art, being the highest form of truth, has of necessity a moral 
basis, and is the exponent of the strength and weakness of 

1 See p. 165. 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 375 

the people who produce it. His overflowing enthusiasm for 
art led him to become the "apostle of beauty" to his coun- 
trymen; and he began a propaganda to spread a love of 
beauty among all classes. 

Ruskin's generous nature was shocked at the degradation 
and poverty of the lower classes. He saw nothing but ugli- 
ness, waste, and misery in the modern industrial system, and 
he therefore became a most ardent social reformer. The po- 
litical economy of the Manchester School, with its emphasis 
on the "economic man" bent on profits, he regarded as false 
and mischievous. "There is no wealth but life. . . . That 
country is the richest which nourishes the greatest num- 
ber of noble and happy human beings," he declared. The 
laborer, according to Ruskin, was only incidentally a profit 
producer, but essentially a soldier of industry, working for 
the welfare of the whole community; he should therefore be 
trained, honored, and pensioned like a soldier in the army. 
Believing that culture should be diffused among all the peo- 
ple, he went among the London poor lecturing to them on 
art and life and founding educational societies to spread his 
ideals. Ruskin's influence was widespread, and he may be 
considered as the spiritual forerunner of the great social re- 
form movement that took place in England at the begin- 
ning of the twentieth century. His chief works are Modern 
Painters, Sesame and Lilies, and Unto this Last. 

The Victorian Age ended gloriously with a galaxy of bril- 
liant and original writers. George Meredith (1 828-1 909) 
might fitly be described as a novelist's novelist, ,, 

, . , , , • , -ii 1 • • Meredith 

as his books are admired mainly by those ini- 
tiated in the craft. Meredith's extraordinary gift for analyz- 
ing human character and motives suggests Browning; but, 
unlike the latter, he possessed a subtle irony and a sharp 
wit that he used like fine instruments with which to probe 
human problems. The Comic Spirit, with its "silvery laugh- 
ter of the mind" hovers over his pages, darting here and 
there to expose egoism, hypocrisy, and selfishness. Mere- 
dith's most important books are The Egoist, Diana of the 
Crossways, and Beauchamp's Career. 



376 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Another master of fiction is Thomas Hardy (1840- ), the 
greatest realist among the Victorians. Hardy's descriptions 
, of nature are so extraordinary that sometimes 

his characters sink into the landscape which itself 
then becomes the hero of the book. He took Wessex and its 
rural inhabitants for his literary province and succeeded in 
making that region famous in English literature. Hardy is 
a pessimist. He generally depicts the individual pitted in 
an uneven struggle with nature and society, with a sardonic 
God looking on pitilessly. Failure or death is frequently the 
outcome of the struggles of his heroes and heroines. Accord- 
ing to Hardy, man is a feeble creature in the hands of inex- 
orable fate and therefore cannot be saved either through 
God's grace or through his own works. He is therefore 
pagan rather than Christian in spirit, hence not a true Vic- 
torian. Hardy's most important books are The Return of the 
Native, Tess of the UUrbervilles, and Jude the Obscure. 

Far different from Hardy in outlook was Robert Louis 
Stevenson (1850-94). A lifelong invalid, Stevenson was 
Ci nevertheless a brave and cheery spirit, whose 

btevenson . j r i 

buoyant optimism and boyish romanticism 
gained him wide popularity. He possessed a literary style 
of such rare charm and simplicity that it captivated his 
readers, particularly the young. Stevenson's most import- 
ant books are Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and 
Virginibus Puerisque, the last being a series of essays ad- 
dressed to girls and boys. 

Samuel Butler (1 835-1 902), a satirist of extraordinary 
power, died wholly unrecognized by his contemporaries. In 
B . recent years, however, his writings have come 

prominently to the front and reveal him as a fore- 
runner of George Bernard Shaw. Butler is the sworn foe of 
tyranny in all forms, particularly that which thrives on 
mental stupor and social convention in church, school, and 
family. His book, The Way of All Flesh, is a satirical novel 
describing the havoc caused in the life of a young man by 
his conscientious father and devoted mother because of 
their determination to bring him up according to their 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 377 

conventional ideas. His other famous book, Erewhon, is a 
Utopia wherein the author mercilessly satirizes the institu- 
tions of his day. Moral delinquencies are there considered 
physical ailments and are treated as such by physicians; 
and, on the contrary, physical ailments are considered 
moral delinquencies and are sternly punished. 

During the last decade of the nineteenth century a new- 
era began in English literature which was in marked con- 
trast to the Victorian Age. England was out- The New 
growing the liberalism of the middle classes who, Spirit, im- 
for two generations, had fashioned her ideals. 
New forces came to the fore, imperialism and socialism, 
which, though utterly dissimilar in spirit and aim, were 
nevertheless united in protest against the narrowness and 
contentment of Victorian England. Imperialism was, in one 
sense, a challenge to the insularity of the English people, 
who then cared little for affairs beyond their island shores, 
even for those of their Empire; and Kipling's voice, speak- 
ing for the Greater Britain beyond the seas, stimulated the 
imagination of the English and made them conscious of 
their vast influence in the world. 

Victorian England exhibited its narrowness in the lack of 
interest shown by the triumphant middle classes in the fate 
of the submerged masses of the people. This . . 
spirit of class insularity is reflected in the writ- 
ings of the Victorian novelists who seldom, if ever, treated 
of the problems of the working class or introduced any but 
"gentlemen" as heroes. In the works of the writers of the 
new era, the gentleman of leisure, long the undisputed hero 
in the play or novel, is retired to the background or even 
shown as the villain of the piece; into his place steps the 
toiler by brain or by hand, the man from statecraft, from 
the professions, from business, from the plow, from the ma- 
chine. Social reform, socialism, efficient government, femin- 
ism, trade unionism, these are the absorbing themes of the 
writings of the new time. One must go back to the days of 
Milton to find a similar identification of literature with life. 
Conviction of original sin and the need for grace did not 



378 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

determine the law and the prophets of old more imperiously 
than did the conviction of preventable human waste and the 
need for social readjustment determine the laws and proph- 
ets of twentieth-century Britain. These newer writers are 
not mere social revivalists in the manner of Carlyle and 
Ruskin ; they focus and direct public opinion in the manner 
of Wells and Shaw. In short they are active publicists and 
propagandists as well as artists, and their writings might 
be described as sociology clothed — sometimes thinly — in 
the garb of fiction. 

No modern English writer has enjoyed such prodigious 
popularity as Rudyard Kipling (1865- ), story- writer and 
„. .. poet. The revival of imperialism which began in 

England at the end of the nineteenth century 
found in Kipling its supreme literary spokesman. Born in 
India, widely traveled, and knowing every part of the Brit- 
ish dominions, he was well qualified to be the "Poet Lau- 
reate of the Empire." Moreover, Kipling intensely believes 
that the "Sons of the Blood," as he called the Anglo-Saxons, 
are the best fitted of all Europeans to rule the "lesser 
breeds," and he has constantly exhorted his fellow country- 
men to take up "the white man's burden" and bring 
Western civilization to the colored peoples of Asia and 
Africa. 

Kipling's literary power lies in his mastery of a racy, col- 
loquial style which is vigorous to the point of audacity; as a 
writer of short stories of adventure he is unsurpassed. His 
favorite characters are soldiers and adventurers, and he has 
immortalized "Tommy Atkins," whose praises he sings in 
prose and in verse. Violent action, vividly felt and vividly 
described, is Kipling's forte. Seldom does he show the power 
of subtle analysis of problems, or of unraveling the tangled 
skein of human motives; hence his characters merely live; 
they do not grow. Of the social problems which dominated 
the writings of his contemporaries, Kipling betrays neither 
knowledge nor interest in the slightest degree. 

Kipling first attracted considerable attention with his 
book, Plain Tales, a series of short stories dealing with life in 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 379 

India. The introduction of this novel field in English liter- 
ature played an important part in enhancing his popular- 
ity. His volume of poems, Barrack-Room Ballads, has the 
vigor and directness of his tales and deals with the character 
and adventures of English soldiers in India. Curiously 
enough, this literary imperialist occasionally exhibits an- 
other side, a dreamy mysticism. In Kim he describes sym- 
pathetically the gentle spiritual life of the native Hindus. 
In his fascinating animal tales for children, The Jungle Book 
and The Just So Stories, Kipling shows rare power in trans- 
forming the jungle into an animal fairyland. 

The drama as a vehicle of radical agitation reached un- 
usual influence and power in the hands of George Bernard 
Shaw (1856- ). The essential fact about Shaw 
is that he is a socialist. Even before he be- 
came famous as a writer of plays, he had become well known 
as a trenchant writer and expounder of socialistic ideas. 
Shaw, therefore, entirely repudiates the present social and 
economic system; there is hardly a modern social problem 
which has not engaged his busy pen. As he himself once de- 
clared, " I am up to the chin in the life of my times." Shaw 
is even more revolutionary in the sphere of morals; and he 
has criticized severely the established standards of conduct 
in the earnest desire to effect a radical change in the moral 
code, in order to give people a justification for their newly 
born desires. His method is satire, which he employs with 
such daring, brilliance, and wit that cherished institutions 
and ideals emerge from his hands ragged and ridiculous. 
Family, church, state, property, and educational systems 
are judged as being founded on class interests and prejudices 
compounded with stupidity. Philistine morality, according 
to Shaw, has for its chief virtue Duty, which is not "the 
Stern Daughter of the Voice of God," but a means of enslav- 
ing the souls of the people that they may accept willingly 
an outrageous system of society. Hence the first step of 
those who would be free is to emancipate themselves from 
"duties," the workingman from those to his employer, the 
citizen from those to the State, the communicant from those 



380 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to the Church, and the married from those to the family. 
The highest duty is to one's self. Shaw also inveighs against 
sentimental romanticism. He believes firmly in a cool, 
common-sense view of all relations in life, and considers 
romanticism as very harmful because it creates illusions by 
covering reality with a golden haze. 

A Shaw play is not a drama in the ordinary sense, with a 
plot involving the fate of the leading characters. There is no 
plot, hero, heroine, or villain in a Shaw play; instead, there is 
brilliant and witty conversation concerning a grave social 
problem, which the various characters discuss according to 
their temperament and ideals. The problem itself is the 
plot, hero, heroine, and villain. Shaw has performed a re- 
markable feat in the dramatic field, for he holds the rapt 
attention of his audiences through sheer intellectual power. 
His best known plays are Widowers 1 Houses, satirizing in- 
come-holders; Arms and the Man, romantic idolators of 
war; Man and Superman, conventional love; Getting Mar- 
ried, marriage; Candida, egoistical social reformers; Major 
Barbara, hereditary abilities and virtues; Pygmalion, con- 
ventional good breeding; Fanny's First Play, the good in- 
fluence of a good home; and Androdes and the Lion, the 
early Christians. 

Herbert George Wells (1866-) has shared with Shaw the 
literary hegemony of the new age. Although a socialist like 
w . Shaw, Wells's views are the expression of a tem- 

perament quite different from that of his bril- 
liant contemporary. Shaw is clear, cool, unemotional, and 
unromantic in his expositions, but quite dogmatic in his 
solutions. Wells, on the contrary, is temperamentally a 
"dweller in the innermost." He analyzes social problems 
in quite a spiritual-romantic manner, sometimes wondering 
at the stupidity of mankind in not solving them, some- 
times wondering whether they can be solved at all. He 
is essentially a sociologist touched with emotion. Although 
a superb story-writer, his best work has been done in a field 
partly created by himself, the sociological novel, in which 
the heroes and heroines struggle to escape from the evil 



DEMOCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 381 

effects of bad education, outworn ideals, and cramping in- 
stitutions instead of the evil machinations of their enemies. 

Wells calls himself a socialist, but he would scarcely be 
classified as such by the strict adherents of socialism. In his 
view present society is in a sad state of "muddle"; ineffi- 
ciency, planlessness, and stupidity have done their very 
worst to make life unbearable for the major portion of hu- 
manity. He therefore desires to see an educational process 
generated, which he calls "love and fine thinking," that 
will set people to reorganize their institutions on a more 
humane and intelligent plan. This must be done without 
class hatred and without rancor of any kind ; those who pro- 
fit from the present evil system must be made to see that 
they could lead a larger and richer life in a world from which 
poverty and its attendant evils are banished. Few writers* 
of the day are as suggestive as Wells. His novels and es- 
says are likely to set the reader to thinking of social prob- 
lems in a new way and, what is more, to make him see 
his own relation to these problems. Wells is also endowed 
with abundant humor, not the sparkling wit of Shaw's 
repartee, but the humor that is woven into the construction 
of a character or a situation that exposes incongruities and 
absurdities. 

Wells's great search is the future. His test of a moral act 
is its consequences for individual and social welfare, not its 
relation to a code of morals; of an idea, its bearing upon 
a new view of life, not of its truth or falsehood; of an in- 
stitution, its value to a new society, not to an old one. He 
never tires of reiterating the sentiment that the chief busi- 
ness of mankind ought to be to prepare itself, its ideals, and 
its institutions for the great future that is soon to dawn 
upon us. On this theme he has written many books, the 
most notable of which are Anticipations, New Worlds for Old, 
A Modern Utopia, The Great State, and The World Set Free 
and a remarkable essay, The Discovery of the Future. His 
most famous novels are The New Machiavelli, Ann Veronica, 
The History of Mr. Polly, and Mr. Britling Sees It Through. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE IRISH QUESTION 
Introduction 

The history of Ireland is a sad record of misery, oppres- 
sion, and wrong. For centuries Ireland has been a prob- 
Causes of * em to England; and, although their histories 
Irish dis- have been closely intertwined, a deep and bitter 
hatred on the part of the Irish for England has 
persisted for many generations. For this there are several 
explanations. In the first place, the Irish are a conquered 
people who, for centuries, have been governed by their 
masters, the English. The hatred that would naturally 
arise between conquered and conqueror is aggravated by 
racial and religious antagonisms; the Irish are largely of the 
Celtic race and devoted adherents of the Catholic Church, 
whereas the English are mainly of Saxon stock and strongly 
Protestant in faith. But what has intensified the antagonism 
between the two peoples is that the soil of Ireland, once the 
property of the natives, was appropriated by the English 
invaders and the Irish reduced to destitution in their own 
household. 

The English conquest began in 1169 when a company of 
adventurous Norman knights invaded Ireland. This ex- 
Conquest of pedition was in the nature of a private enter- 
Ireland prise; and three years later an official over- 
lordship was established over Ireland by King Henry II 
of England. The English settled in the region around 
Dublin, which became known as the "Pale." Throughout 
the Middle Ages Ireland, in theory, was under English rule; 
in fact, however, almost the entire island was under the 
control of native chieftains who ruled the various clans. It 
was only in the "Pale" that English law was recognized; 
between the "Pale" and the rest of the island there 



THE IRISH QUESTION 383 

was continuous warfare characterized by almost inhuman 
cruelty and ferocity. 

With the accession of the Tudor dynasty to the English 
throne, in 1485, there began a movement to consolidate the 
power of the monarchy. The Tudors wished to Ire i and un _ 
be masters in Ireland as well as in England ; con- der the 
sequently the famous Poynings Act was passed 
in 1494 giving the English Parliament the right to veto 
the laws passed by the Irish Parliament which had been 
established in the "Pale." Efforts were also made to 
Anglicize the Irish by introducing among them English 
customs, language, and law; and special efforts were made 
to force them into the Anglican Church, a branch of which 
was established in Ireland by King Henry VIII. The Irish 
bitterly resented these attempts to Anglicize them, and rose 
in rebellion at every favorable opportunity, but they were 
suppressed each time with savage cruelty. In this way 
was Ireland continually being "pacified." 

During the rule of the Stuarts a new policy toward Ire- 
land was adopted, which did more than anything else to 
create the Irish problem, the solution of which i re i an( j un _ 
has been so difficult a task for British states- der the 
manship. The English decided to "plant" a Pro- 
testant population in Ireland in order to secure native sup- 
port for their side. .A rebellion in the northern province of 
Ulster gave the Government the needed opportunity. The 
land of the rebels was confiscated and the title deeds of many 
others were declared invalid according to English law. In 
this way about three quarters of a million acres were taken 
from the native Irish, who were driven out of the province. 
Scottish settlers, mainly Presbyterians in religion, were sent 
over by the English Government to establish themselves 
on the lands of the dispossessed natives. This Plantation 
of Ulster took place in 1608. In 1652 a second great confisca- 
tion, known as the Cromwellian Settlement, was consum- 
mated as a punishment for the Irish support of Charles I 
as against Parliament. Large sections of the provinces of 
Leinster and Munster were confiscated and given to Eng- 



384 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

lishmen. The third great confiscation followed the victory 
of King William III over the Irish at the Battle of the Boyne 
in 1690, when large tracts of land were given to the favor- 
ites of the King. By these methods many of the Irish peo- 
ple became refugees and outlaws in their own country, or 
tenants on the land which had previously been theirs. 

A system of legislation was devised by the English Gov- 
ernment which had for its object the degradation, if not 
Anti-Irish the destruction, of the Irish people. No Irish 
legislation Catholic could inherit or buy land from a Prot- 
estant or lease it for a period longer than thirty-one years. 
If the eldest son of a Catholic became a Protestant, he could 
oust his father from his property ; if a relative of a deceased 
Catholic landowner turned Protestant, he inherited all the 
property to the exclusion of the rightful heirs. A special 
tax was laid on all Catholics engaged in industry, and they 
were forbidden to employ more than two workingmen. 
As no Catholic could vote or hold office, the Dublin Parlia- 
ment was entirely in the hands of the Protestant minority. 
All education had to be under Protestant auspices, and 
Catholics were not permitted to enter any liberal profes- 
sion except that of medicine. Worship according to the 
Catholic religion was greatly hampered; monks and the 
higher clergy, like bishops, were banished on pain of 
death ; secular priests had to be registered and their number 
was limited by law; high rewards having been offered to 
informers, priest-hunting became a lucrative profession. 
In the words of Edmund Burke, these laws constituted 
"a complete system ... as well fitted for the oppression, 
impoverishment, and degradation of a people and the de- 
basement in them of human nature itself as ever proceeded 
from the ingenuity of man." Driven from the land, the 
Irish turned to cattle-raising, for which the country is ex- 
ceptionally well fitted; but the English Government put 
a high export duty on cattle and so destroyed that indus- 
try. The Irish then began to build up a prosperous trade in 
wool, but the English put a high export duty on wool, and 
this industry, too, was ruined. "The law does not suppose 



THE IRISH QUESTION 385 

any such person to exist as an Irish Roman Catholic," once 
declared an English Lord Chancellor. 

Had the anti-Catholic legislation been rigidly enforced, 
the Irish race would undoubtedly have been destroyed or 
reduced to a state of hopeless degradation. But impossibility 
it was impossible for the small Protestant mi- ?heAnd- mg 
nority to carry out the harsh code, even though Irish laws 
it had the support of the military power of England. More- 
over, the natural kindness inherent in human nature pre- 
vented many Protestants in Ireland from taking full ad- 
vantage of these laws; therefore much of this anti-Irish 
legislation became a dead letter. 

It was the American Revolution that first roused the 
Irish to organized discontent. Secret societies like the 
"Whiteboys," the "Hearts of Oak," and the Act of 
"United Irishmen" started a vigorous agita- Umon ( l8o °) 
tion against English rule. "England's difficulties are Ire- 
land's opportunities!" was the cry. Discontent was so rife 
all over the island, in Protestant Ulster as well as in the 
Catholic section, that the Government was forced to repeal 
many of the harsh laws against the Catholics. Those of the 
latter who had the property qualifications were given the 
franchise, but they were not permitted to hold office. In 
1782 the Poynings Act was repealed, and the Dublin Parlia- 
ment became independent of the one in London. Although 
it was composed exclusively of Protestants, the Dublin 
Parliament, under the leadership of the famous orator and 
statesman, Henry Grattan, enacted legislation for the ben- 
efit of the whole Irish people. Stimulated to further dis- 
content by the French Revolution, the Irish, in 1798, once 
more rose in revolt against the English Government, only 
to be speedily suppressed. William Pitt, then Prime Min- 
ister, resolved on the abolition of the Irish legislature. By 
resorting to the most flagrant corruption, he succeeded in 
having the Act of Union (1800) adopted by the Dublin 
Parliament. By this act the latter was abolished, and Ire- 
land was given representation in the British Parliament, 
where an overwhelming anti- Irish majority could always 
be relied upon to continue the repressive policies. 



386 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Ireland 
made many attempts to free herself from the evils inher- 
The chief * tec ^ f rom P ast ages. Ireland has faced three 
problems of great general problems : the economic, to restore 
the land to its original owners; the religious, to 
establish equality between Protestants and Catholics; and 
the political, to repeal the Act of Union and reestablish 
the Irish Parliament. 

Among the Irish people two parties appeared that pro- 
posed to solve these problems in two entirely different ways. 
The consti- One may be described as moderate and constitu- 
re volution" tional, as it desired to conduct a peaceful agita- 
ary parties tion to induce the English Government to repeal 
the anti-Catholic laws, to buy out the landlords, and to 
establish Home Rule, or self-government, in Ireland under 
the British Crown. The other party was revolutionary in 
character. It cared nothing about Home Rule, but cherished 
the hope of national independence, and wished to confiscate, 
not to buy, the estates of the English landlords. This rev- 
olutionary element strongly believed in the doctrine of 
"physical force," namely, that only by terrorism and re- 
volt could England be compelled to do justice to Ireland. 
Unfortunately, the attitude of indifference on the part of 
the English people to the wrongs of Ireland and their lack 
of sympathy with the Irish people aggravated the situa- 
tion, and so gave a color of truth to the claims of the 
"physical force" party. Ireland has been called the one 
conspicuous failure of British statesmanship. 

The population of the island consists of three groups. 
First come the descendants of the original inhabitants, 
The racial largely Celtic in race and Catholic in religion, 
elements W ^ Q cons titute about seventy-five per cent of 
all the people, most of whom are peasants or industrial 
laborers. The second group, known as the "Ascendancy" 
or the "Garrison," are of English origin and members of 
the Episcopal Church. To this element belong the land- 
lords, civil and military officials, and the middle classes of 
the towns. In Ulster there exists a third and distinct group, 



THE IRISH QUESTION 387 

the descendants of the Scottish settlers of the seventeenth 
century, nearly all of whom are Presbyterians in religion 
and strongly hostile to the Catholics. Between the Ulster- 
ites and the Catholic Irish bitter feuds have raged down 
to this day. The anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne has 
been celebrated in Ireland by street fighting between the 
"Orange" and the "Green." x Ulster, once a purely farm- 
ing region, has since become a thriving industrial center, 
devoted to shipbuilding and to the development of the 
linen industry. 

Catholic Emancipation 

The first problem actually to be solved was the religious 
one. We have already seen how the "Liberator," Daniel 
O'Connell, 2 who was a believer in "agitation The Irish 
within the law," succeeded in bringing about Episcopal 
Catholic Emancipation. Nevertheless, religious 
inequality still continued because the Established Church 
remained entitled by law to public support. She was splen- 
didly endowed, having large revenues and giving princely 
incomes to her bishops. The law required that every 
one, irrespective of his religion, who held land either as 
tenant or as owner was to pay a special tax called the 
"tithe" for the support of the English Church. Out of 
about eight million inhabitants, only about one half million 
were Episcopalians, and they were almost exclusively Eng- 
lish or of English descent. "On an Irish Sabbath morn- 
ing," once wrote Sydney Smith, the English humorist, " the 
bell of a neat Parish Church often summons to worship 
only the parson and an occasional conforming clerk, while 
two hundred yards off a thousand Catholics are huddled 
together in a hovel, and pelted by the storms of Heaven." 

The poor Irish peasant, already burdened by his volun- 
tary support of the Catholic Church, often refused to pay 

1 The Orangemen are so called in memory of William of Orange (King 
William III) who won the Battle of the Boyne. The Orange Society, which is 
a powerful secret organization opposed to the Irish Catholics, was organized 
in 1795. 

2 See p. 384. 



388 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the tithe to a church which he hated as alien. Whenever 
The "tithe the Anglican clergyman, accompanied by a 
war " police officer, attempted to take away the peas- 

ant's cow or pig for non-payment of this tax, a riot fol- 
lowed. In 1 831 a " tithe war," or general riot, occurred 
throughout Ireland. It became so difficult to collect the tithe 
that, in 1838, it was converted into a land tax to be paid by 
the landlord ; but the latter dodged the burden by promptly 
increasing the rents of his tenants. 

The working classes who were enfranchised in 1867, 
being mainly Dissenters, were naturally hostile to the Es- 
Disestab- tablished Church. In the election of 1868 the 
the7rish° f Liberals, to which party the newly enfranchised 
Church had flocked, were overwhelmingly successful. 

Under the leadership of Gladstone a law disestablishing and 
disendowing the Episcopal Church in Ireland was passed 
by Parliament in 1869, not however without a bitter strug- 
gle. All taxes for the support of the Church were abolished, 
and its landed property was taken by the Government; 
partial compensation, however, was made by the creation 
of a special fund for the support of some of the Episcopal 
clergy in Ireland. 

The Agrarian Question and its Solution 

Ireland always has been, and still is, essentially an agri- 
cultural country, her people depending mainly upon the land 
Ireland an ^ or their sustenance. Her industrial development 
agricultural has been slow because there is very little coal 
and iron to be found on the island. To secure 
prosperity and contentment among an agricultural people, 
it is essential that the system of landholding be liberal 
and the methods of farming progressive; otherwise the 
people, having no industries to fall back upon, must sink 
into hopeless poverty. Up to recent times the Irish system 
of landholding was exceedingly bad, for it contained many 
vicious features with scarcely any redeeming ones. 

As has been described above, the ownership of the soil 
was vested, not in those who tilled it, but in those whose 



THE IRISH QUESTION 389 

ancestors had profited from the confiscations in former 
years. These Irish landlords, mainly of English Absentee 
origin, regarded their estates merely as sources of landlordlsm 
revenue and cared little about the condition of the tenants, 
whom they greatly despised. Many of them were "ab- 
sentee landlords" living in England; their properties were 
managed by agents, who, in order to please their employers, 
would raise the rents of the tenants on every possible pre- 
text. 

Improvements on the farm had to be made by the peas- 
ant. If he drained a marsh, built a fence, or improved 
his cottage, his rent was immediately raised by Evils of the 
the landlord ; if he refused to pay it, he was land s y stem 
promptly evicted and the improvements, as well as the 
farm, became the landlord's property without compensation 
to the tenant. From 1849 to 1882 no fewer than 363,000 
peasant families were evicted from their homes. Often the 
fear of losing the money invested in the improvements 
compelled the peasant to suffer the greatest privations in 
order to satisfy the greed of the landlord. In this way the 
latter used as a means of coercion the very values created 
by the peasant. Owners refused to improve their prop- 
erties, and the tenants were naturally slow to invest labor 
and money for the benefit of the former; hence the land was 
wretchedly cultivated. This system of "rack-renting," as 
it was called, became notorious the world over and excited 
the greatest sympathy for the Irish peasants. Because of 
the absence of industry competition for land was keen, and 
an evicted family was replaced without difficulty. Many 
farms were too small to support a family. "As poor as an 
Irishman" became a proverb. Living almost exclusively on 
potatoes and in wretched huts which sheltered alike human 
beings and animals, the Irish peasants were in a state of in- 
describable poverty and misery. The failure of the potato 
crop in 1845-47 produced unimaginable suffering. It has 
been estimated that about eighty thousand persons died of 
starvation during those years, and that between 1846 and 
1 85 1 a million and a quarter Irishmen emigrated to America. 



390 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

While the population of every other country had greatly in- 
creased, that of Ireland was reduced by one half between 
1845 and 1 891. 

The hatred of the Irish peasants for their landlords found 
expression in acts of violence and terrorism. Many land- 
The Land lords and their agents were murdered, their cat- 
League t j e were killed or maimed, and their houses 
burned. A system of "boycotting" landlords and their 
hirelings was instituted; no one would buy from or sell to 
them ; no servants would seek employment in their homes ; 
no physicians would attend them in sickness; no one would 
recognize them when meeting on the streets. In 1875 the 
celebrated Land League was formed by Michael Davitt and 
Charles Stewart Parnell. It demanded the three "F's," 
"free sale, fixity of tenure, and fair rent"; that is, that a 
tenant who desired to leave his holding should have the right 
to sell to his successor the improvements which he had made ; 
that eviction should not be at the will of the landlord solely; 
and that rents should be fixed by public authority. The 
return of the soil to its original owners was the ultimate 
solution advocated by the League. The far-reaching agita- 
tion set on foot by this organization enlisted almost the 
entire peasantry of Ireland in its ranks. Though violence 
was often resorted to by the tenants, it was not openly 
advocated by the League. 

For the British Government the problem presented itself 
as an issue between general anarchy and reform. Glad- 
Gladstone's stone, whose interest in Ireland began about this 
Land Acts t j me to dominate his political thought, resolved 
to attack the Irish agrarian question with earnestness. 
Already, in 1870, he had been instrumental in the enact- 
ment of a law that established throughout Ireland the land 
system of Ulster, which recognized the principle of "tenant 
right" by giving compensation for improvements to tenants 
in case they were evicted for causes other than the non-pay- 
ment of rent. In the Land Act of 188 1 Gladstone showed his 
great power as a constructive statesman, for it marked the 
beginning of the solution of the most difficult of Ireland's 



THE IRISH QUESTION 391 

problems. The chief feature of this law was the public regu- 
lation of land through the appointment of a Land Commis- 
sion with powers to adjust relations between landlord and 
tenant; evictions were to be made on reasonable grounds 
only; rents were to be regulated by the Commission; a 
tenant was to be free to sell his holding to another; and full 
compensation for improvements was to be given to an out- 
going tenant. Although this Land Act was at first de- 
nounced by its opponents as a combination of "force, 
fraud, and folly," in a short time its influence became ap- 
parent in the growing contentment of the Irish peasantry. 
The most radical step in land reform was taken, however, 
by the Conservative Party when it passed the celebrated 
land laws of 1891 and 1903, the main object of The Land 
which was the gradual transfer of the soil of Purchase 

Acts 

Ireland from the landlords to the tenants. The 
Conservatives believed that the Irish would cease to be 
revolutionary when they became property-owners. Large 
sums of money were put at the disposal of the Land Com- 
mission by the Imperial Government; landlords were of- 
fered a bonus of one eighth of the selling price as an 
inducement to sell; and tenants were offered money on 
easy terms as an inducement to buy. Many thousands of 
Irish peasants have been enabled by this law to become 
proprietors of farms. John Redmond, the Irish National- 
ist leader, declared that these laws were "the most sub- 
stantial victory gained by the Irish race in the recon- 
quest of the soil of Ireland." A contented, hard-working 
peasantry struggling for its own improvement took the 
place of the wretched, rebellious tenants of former days. 
Emigration stopped almost entirely; drunkenness decreased 
markedly; and dire poverty became the exception instead 
of the rule. At last, after centuries of violence and hatred, 
peace and amity came to Ireland. 



392 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Home Rule 

One more problem, Home Rule, remained to be solved. 
The revolutionary currents of the middle of the nineteenth 
Young Ire- century brought forth the Young Ireland move- 
land ment of 1848. A group of idealistic young Irish- 

men, headed by Charles Gavan Duffy, William Smith 
O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher, and John Mitchel, 
organized an agitation for national independence. They 
founded a paper called the Nation, which expressed their 
views with great force and eloquence, and aimed to stir the 
Irish people into revolt against England. A small uprising 
did occur in 1848, but it was quickly suppressed, and the 
leaders were exiled or imprisoned. 

A far more dangerous movement was Fenianism (from 
Fiana Eirean, national militia), which was organized by 
. . Irish refugees in America at the close of the 

Civil War. The Fenians were a secret, revo- 
lutionary brotherhood that determined to establish an in- 
dependent Irish Republic by a policy of terrorism. Riots 
were organized, prisons were blown up, officials were mur- 
dered, and an attempt was made by the Irish in America 
to invade Canada. On May 6, 1882, there occurred the 
Phcenix Park murders in Dublin which shocked all England. 
Lord Frederick Cavendish, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, 
and an associate were assassinated by members of a Fenian 
group known as the " Invincibles." The English authorities, 
greatly frightened, adopted an energetic policy to uproot 
Fenianism; habeas corpus was suspended, and many of the 
Irish terrorists were executed or imprisoned. Nevertheless, 
the activity of the Fenians, according to Gladstone, "pro- 
duced among Englishmen an attitude of attention and pre- 
paredness which qualified them to embrace, in a manner 
foreign to their habits in other times, the vast importance of 
the Irish controversy." 

The policy of the Fenians was strongly condemned by 
those Irish who believed in constitutional methods of agi- 
tation. Accordingly, in 1870, a political party, called the 



THE IRISH QUESTION 393 

Irish Nationalists, was organized to demand Home Rule 
for Ireland. Shortly after its birth the party 
came under the leadership of Charles Stewart 
Parnell, one of the most remarkable political leaders of his 
day. A man of cool temper, scorning rhetoric, haughty and 
aristocratic in temperament, Parnell, although a Protest- 
ant, received the enthusiastic support of the Catholic Irish. 
In his opinion the great mistake of England was that she 
governed Ireland according to English ideas and in the 
interest of the Protestant landowning minority; the plan 
which he advocated was to reverse this policy in favor of the 
Catholic peasant majority. All his life Parnell was domi- 
nated by hatred of English rule, and he went so far as to 
declare: "No man has a right to set bounds to the march 
of a nation — to say thus far thou shalt go and no farther." * 

Parnell's one policy was ceaseless agitation for Irish 
reforms, inside and outside of Parliament. With that in 
view he made an alliance with the more radical Parnell's 
element under Michael Davitt, and helped to "fVrbu°- 
organize the Land League, whose propaganda, terin g" 
as we have seen, kept Ireland in a constant state of tur- 
moil. In Parliament, Parnell developed a vexatious sys- 
tem of obstructing legislation, or "filibustering," by tak- 
ing advantage of the rules of the House: he would make 
interminable speeches, demand a roll-call on all bills, pre- 
sent numerous resolutions, and, in these ways, constantly 
retard the business of Parliament. Disorderly scenes were 
of frequent occurrence in the House, and occasionally the 
Irish members had to be forcibly ejected. 2 

In the elections of 1885 the Liberals won a majority of the 
seats. Gladstone, who had manifested a desire to find some 
solution of the Irish Question other than coer- The first 
cion, joined hands with the Nationalists. He Home Rule 

Rill 

introduced in 1886 the first Home Rule Bill, pro- 
viding that a Parliament be established in Dublin with 

1 Engraved on his statue in Dublin. 

2 The House of Commons, to offset these tactics, modified its rules of pro- 
cedure by introducing "closure." or the practice of shutting off debate. 



394 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

power to legislate on purely local affairs, but that Irish 
representation in the British Parliament come to an end. 
Opposition to the bill was most bitter. In the first place, 
a cry went up that the British Empire was in danger, for 
Home Rule was but the first step toward secession and the 
ultimate disintegration of the Empire. In the second place, 
an appeal to religious prejudice was made by the opponents 
of the bill, particularly by the Ulsterites, who declared that 
Home Rule meant Rome Rule; for the Catholic majority in 
a Dublin Parliament would undoubtedly take advantage of 
its power to revenge itself upon the Protestant minority. 
So deep-rooted was English distrust and dislike of the Irish 
that some of Gladstone's most influential followers, like 
John Bright and Joseph Chamberlain, united with the Con- 
servatives to defeat the bill, and the Cabinet was compelled 
to resign. Elections took place soon afterward in which 
the Conservatives were overwhelmingly successful. To give 
self-government to Ireland was evidently not yet the in- 
tention of the British people. The new Conservative Minis- 
try, with Lord Salisbury as Premier and Arthur Balfour as 
Chief Secretary for Ireland, determined upon a course of 
consistent and pitiless repression of every disorderly mani- 
festation in Ireland. Additional Crimes Acts were passed 
and vigorously enforced. 

In the elections of 1892 the Conservatives won about fifty 
seats more than the Liberals. If the latter wished to govern, 
Th nd tne y cou ld do so only by getting the support of 
Home Rule Parnell with his eighty-five Irish Nationalists. 

Rill 

Gladstone's interest in Home Rule had not 
waned since his first efforts in that direction, and he now 
made an alliance with Parnell, through whose assistance 
a Liberal Cabinet was formed, headed by Gladstone. In 
1893 the second Home Rule Bill was introduced. The chief 
difference between this and the first bill was the continuance 
of Irish representation in the British Parliament in addition 
to the provision for an assembly in Dublin. 1 This bill was 

1 It was, however, provided that the Irish members in the British Parliament 
could vote only on bills affecting Ireland. 



THE IRISH QUESTION 395 

denounced with as much vehemence as the first, and Glad- 
stone was ridiculed as "an old man in a hurry," whose fool- 
ish work was endangering the country. After long and 
heated debates leading at times to open violence, the meas- 
ure finally passed the Commons by a vote of 301 to 267, but 
it was defeated in the Lords by 419 to 41. When, two years 
later, the Conservatives again returned to power, it was 
with the resolve "to kill Home Rule with kindness." A law 
was enacted in 1898 establishing county and district coun- 
cils in Ireland to be elected by popular vote, which gave a 
degree of local self-government not hitherto enjoyed by the 
Irish. This concession was followed by the Land Act of 
1903 already described. 

Discontent was bound to exist as long as the Irish people 
were dependent upon the British Parliament for their legis- 
lation. John Redmond, who became leader of John Red- 
the Nationalist Party in 1900, aimed to convince j 1 ^ io y e . ges 
the British people that Ireland would be all the alt y 
more loyal to England if self-government were granted to 
her, and that the Irish Catholics had no wish to persecute 
the Protestant minority with whom they desired to be 
united to form an Irish nation. 

There was to be still another attempt to pass a Home 
Rule bill. In the elections of 1910 both parties in Parliament 
were evenly matched, and again the Irish Nation- The th;rd 
alists found themselves in the strategic position Home Rule 
of holding the balance of power. The Asquith 
Ministry, depending upon Irish support, introduced, in 
19 12, the third Home Rule Bill. Conservative opposition to 
this measure was, if anything, even more bitter than that to 
its predecessors, and on the same grounds, namely, that it 
would lead to the disruption of the Empire and to persecu- 
tion of the Protestant minority in Ireland. In Ulster there 
was frantic opposition to Home Rule; a wave of "Ulsteria" 
swept the province, and it determined to resist the measure, 
even to the point of rebellion. Sir Edward Carson, a Con- 
servative leader, organized the Ulster Volunteers, a popular 
military organization which, in open defiance of the authori- 



396 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ties, recruited and drilled its forces with the proclaimed pur- 
pose of resisting the application of a Home Rule Act to 
Ulster. Although religious antagonism was a powerful fac- 
tor in keeping Ireland divided, there was another cause, not 
so apparent but much more real, for Ulster's opposition to 
Home Rule. This province is the wealthiest part of Ireland 
on account of its shipping and linen industries, and fears 
were entertained by the people of Ulster that, as a majority 
of the Irish Parliament would come from the poorer sections 
of the island, it would lay the burden of taxation upon them. 

The Asquith Ministry was in a quandary. Should it yield 
to Ulster? That would lead to a loss of Irish support in the 
The Amend- Commons and to the consequent defeat of the 
ment Clause Liberal Government. Should it firmly prohibit 
the activities of the Ulster Volunteers? That would mean 
civil war with its attendant evils, and the danger of a con- 
solidation of Protestant opinion in Great Britain powerful 
enough to disrupt the Liberal Party. True to the English 
tradition of compromise, Premier Asquith introduced an 
Amendment Clause which provided that those counties in 
Ulster which so decided by a referendum vote would be 
excluded from the operation of the Home Rule Act for a 
period of six years; but that, at the end of this time, they 
would automatically come under its operation. 1 

But this did not satisfy Ulster, which wished to be totally 
and permanently excluded from control by a Dublin Parlia- 
Home Rule men t- Encouraged by the weakness displayed 
enacted into by the Government in the face of threats of re- 
bellion, the Ulsterites continued their warlike 
preparations with increased energy. There was much aston- 
ishment and alarm when a group of British army officers 
stationed in Ireland openly declared that they would refuse 
to "coerce" Ulster. However, in spite of the seriousness of 
the situation, Parliament, on May 5, 1914, passed the Irish 
Home Rule Bill for the third time without the Amendment, 

1 Ulster is by no means wholly Protestant, as about forty-four per cent of 
the inhabitants of the province are Catholic. The Catholics are in the majority 
in some of the counties. 



THE IRISH QUESTION 397 

and it became law under the Parliament Act of 191 1 1 not- 
withstanding its rejection by the Lords. 

The new constitution for Ireland provided for a Parlia- 
ment composed of two Houses: a Senate of forty members to 
be appointed in the first instance by the Crown The Irish 
for a term of five years, but to be popularly constl tution 
elected on the expiration of this period ; and a House of Com- 
mons of one hundred and sixty-four members to be chosen 
by popular vote. An interesting feature of the Constitution 
was that the entire Senate and a part of the House were to 
be elected by proportional representation. Ireland's repre- 
sentation in Westminster was continued, but her delegation 
of one hundred and three members, which was disproportion- 
ate to her population, was reduced to forty- two. The execu- 
tive authority was vested in a cabinet to be chosen by, and to 
be responsible to, the House of Commons; but, in addition, 
there was to be a Lord Lieutenant appointed by the Crown 
with power to veto the acts of the Irish Cabinet. The powers 
of the Irish Parliament were strictly limited to purely Irish 
affairs; it could not legislate on matters concerning Great 
Britain as a whole, such as the army, the navy, the tariff, or 
foreign affairs ; it was prohibited from dealing by legislation 
with the Irish constabulary, the Land Purchase Acts, Old 
Age Pensions, and National Insurance; it was especially 
forbidden to establish, directly or indirectly, any church, to 
give special privileges to any faith, or to make a religious 
ceremony a prerequisite to marriage. 

The final passage of the bill did not stop Ulster's prepara- 
tions for rebellion. Recruiting and drilling of soldiers in- 
creased, and arms were smuggled into the prov- p repara . 
ince in open defiance of the Government. The ti° n s for 
Catholic Irish, fearing that the British army 
would take the side of their opponents in case of a conflict, 
organized a military body, called the Nationalist Volun- 
teers, in preparation for the coming struggle. In July, 1914, 
King George V took the unusual step of calling, on his own 
initiative, a conference of political leaders to discuss the 

1 See p. 363. 



398 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

situation. This aroused a storm of criticism on the part of 
the Home Rulers, who charged that the King was per- 
suaded by the Conservatives to overstep his constitutional 
functions in order to defeat the purpose of the Home Rule 
Act. The conference, however, accomplished nothing. 

An incident soon occurred which threatened to bring mat- 
ters to a head. The military, in attempting to confiscate a 
The World consignment of arms for the Nationalist Volun- 
War teers, fired on a mob in Dublin, killing four and 

wounding sixty. This brought the issue to the point of war; 
and both sides prepared for civil strife. Suddenly the World 
War of 1914 broke out. Immediately the Home Rule con- 
troversy vanished. Sir Edward Carson offered the serv- 
ices of the Ulster Volunteers to the British Government. 
John Redmond vouched for the loyalty of the Catholic 
Irish to the British flag and guaranteed peace even if every 
British soldier left the island. A resolution was adopted by 
Parliament postponing the operation of the Home Rule Act 
until the end of the war. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

Not since the days of the ancient Roman Empire has 
there been a political organism so vast as the British Empire 
of to-day. In 1914 fully one quarter of the Character- 
world's population and one fifth of its area were British Em- 
under the British flag, so that a Briton could P ire 
truly boast that the sun never set on the British dominions. 
Within its confines are to be found almost every race and 
every stage of civilization, from naked savages in Africa 
to cultivated residents of Oxford, all bound together by 
the common tie of British allegiance. In the main, the 
British Empire is the outcome of an expansion of territory 
rather than of population, as only 65,000,000 out of its esti- 
mated population of 425,000,000 are of the white race — 
45,000,000 living in the United Kingdom and the remaining 
20,000,000 elsewhere in the Empire. Of the latter about 
3,000,000 are of non-English stock, such as the French 
in Canada and the Dutch in Africa. The English colonies 
vary greatly in their systems of government, but they 
can be classified in three general groups: (1) India and Egypt, 
which are governed autocratically by British administra- 
tors; (2) Crown Colonies like Ceylon and Guiana, where 
there is an element of popular control; and (3) the five self- 
governing dominions, Canada, Australia, Newfoundland, 
New Zealand, and South Africa, which have complete 
local autonomy. 

In nearly every corner of every sea Great Britain pos- 
sesses a naval base or a convenient place where British war- 
ships may get coal and other supplies ; in this way The fleet 
the British fleet is in control of nearly every and the 

, r . . . Empire 

waterway and is therefore in a position to secure 
the safety of the "far-flung" Empire. In the Mediterra- 
nean, Gibraltar at one end, Suez at the other, and Malta in 



400 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the middle give the British control of this sea. In Asiatic 
waters, Aden, Ceylon, India, Singapore, Hongkong, and 
Wei-hai-Wai mark the pathway of the fleet. In American 
waters the various West Indian islands and Canada ac- 
complish a similar purpose to a limited degree. 

India 

It is to the activities of a trading corporation, the British 
East India Company, that England owes the acquisition of 
The British India, an extensive region inhabited by about 
East India three hundred million people. This company 
established trading-posts in India during the 
early part of the seventeenth century. According to its 
charter the British East India Company was given a mo- 
nopoly of the British trade with India and the right to rule 
over the natives in its jurisdiction, subject, however, to the 
oversight of the British Government. 

Early in the sixteenth century India had been conquered 
by Mongolians who founded what was called the Empire of 
Rivalry of tne Great Mogul with the capital at Delhi. This 
the French empire, after lasting for about two centuries, 
finally disintegrated, and India was broken up 
into rival principalities that continually waged war against 
one another. This gave an opportunity to the Europeans of 
which they made excellent use. Dupleix, the head of the 
French East India Company, allied himself with some of 
the princes against others in order to extend the influence 
of his Company. But in this he was outdone by Clive of 
the English Company, who showed remarkable abilities as 
an organizer and a soldier. At the battles of Plassey (1757) 
and Wandewash (1760) the French and their Indian allies 
were badly beaten by the English and their Indian allies, 
with the result that the hegemony of India passed to the 
English Company. 

For some years this corporation exercised the powers of a 
great state, supporting armies and navies, making treaties, 
and annexing territory with practically no control by Par- 
liament. Huge fortunes were made by the members of the 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 401 

Company and its agents in India. Charges of corruption 
and oppression against the officials of the Com- Control of 
pany brought the matter before Parliament, and pa „ y £y " 
in 1784 a change was made in the government of Parliament 
India by the appointment of commissions in England and in 
India with power to supervise the actions of the Company. 

Not all of what is the present Empire of India was under 
British control at the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
A large region in the central and western parts Extension of 
was ruled by the Mahratta Confederacy, a maiiTin 
loosely organized union of Indian princes who India 
disputed with the English for the control of India. After 
years of intermittent warfare the Confederacy was finally 
overthrown in 181 8, and their lands annexed to the British 
possessions. The warlike inhabitants of the mountainous 
regions of Punjab, on the northern frontier, gave trouble to 
both the English and the natives of the plains. In 1849 
Punjab was conquered and annexed by Lord Dalhousie. 
The inhabitants, known as Sikhs, have since furnished the 
British army in India with excellent soldiers. A series of 
wars in the eastern part resulted in the conquest of Burmah 
and its final annexation in 1886. Toward the end of the 
nineteenth century British influence made itself felt among 
the warlike tribes in Afghanistan and Baluchistan on the 
northwestern frontier. 1 

The rapid growth of British authority in India could not 
but arouse great dissatisfaction among the natives, who 
beheld a handful of Europeans in control of their The greased 
destiny. It needed only some incident to cause cartnd s es 
the smouldering discontent to flame up into open rebellion. 
This incident was furnished by the introduction in the army 
of a new kind of cartridge, wrapped in greased paper, the 
ends of which had to be bitten off before being inserted into 
the gun. The authorities had not taken into account the 
religious scruples of the Sepoys, as the native soldiers are 
called, who were horrified at the thought of putting grease 

1 In 1903 Baluchistan came under British control and is now a province of 
India. 



402 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to their mouths. The Mohammedans among them thought 
that the grease was the fat of pigs, animals which their reli- 
gion forbids them to eat, while the Hindus thought it was 
the fat of cows, animals sacred to their religion. 

The famous Indian Mutiny of 1857, which grew out of 
this incident, began with an uprising of a native regiment. 
_, , . . Most of India was soon seething with rebellion, 

The Mutiny ° . . ' 

and there were only about forty thousand British 
soldiers to uphold the Government. The mutineers com- 
mitted frightful cruelties on the English residents, many of 
whom were massacred outright. Reinforcements were hur- 
ried from England, and the Mutiny was completely crushed 
two years later. The British took a fearful vengeance: hun- 
dreds of rebels were shot and others blown from the mouths 
of cannon. 

The uprising led to an important change in the govern- 
ment of India. In 1858, an act of Parliament abolished the 
Abolition of East India Company, and the control of India 
Company passed completely into the hands of the Crown. 
It was henceforth entrusted to a Cabinet Min- 
ister, called the Secretary of State for India, assisted by a 
council. The actual administration in India was put into 
the hands of a Viceroy assisted by two bodies, an executive 
and a legislative council, all of them appointed by the Brit- 
ish Government. Large sections of the population were not 
put under the direct rule of the Viceroy, but under that of 
their own princes, who, however, were " advised " by British 
officials. In 1877 Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress 
of India as a recognition of the importance of the latter in 
the British Empire. In 191 2 the capital was moved to 
Delhi, the ancient city of the Moguls. 

Toward the end of the nineteenth century there began a 
nationalistic movement among the Hindus, who desired not 
The Na- so muc h independence as local autonomy. This 
tionalist movement was largely directed by the educated 

movement 111 t» 1 1 1 11 

young men who had studied abroad, and who 
had become imbued with Western ideas. As a result of this 
agitation the natives were given more and more recognition 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 403 

in the Government; Hindus were appointed to the council 
of the Secretary of State for India and to those of the Vice- 
roy. This, however, failed to satisfy the Nationalists, who 
declared that these bodies exercised merely advisory pow- 
ers. Seditious journals and secret societies kept up a vigor- 
ous agitation, which led to assassination of British officials 
and to a systematic boycotting of British goods. Stern 
measures were therefore adopted by the Government to sup- 
press the nationalistic movement. The patriotic journals 
and societies were suppressed and the agitators jailed. 
British rule in India persists mainly because the vast popu- 
lation is broken up into mutually hostile racial and religious 
groups, who are unwilling to unite even against their British 
masters. The warlike Mohammedans are feared and hated 
by those of the Brahmin faith, who constitute about two 
thirds of the population. Other important religious groups 
are the Buddhists, the Jains, and the Sikhs. 

Although heavily taxed and arbitrarily governed, India 
has derived undoubted benefits from British rule. It has 
brought internal peace to a land once distracted Benefits of 
by tribal wars, established an enlightened civil British rule 
and criminal code, and abolished barbarous dus and to 
practices, such as the suttee, or the self-immola- the Bntlsh 
tion of a widow on the funeral pile of her husband. Gigantic 
irrigation works have been constructed to the great bene- 
fit of agriculture; railways and factories have been built; 
and India's commerce, both domestic and foreign, has in- 
creased by leaps and bounds. England, too, has profited 
greatly from her control of India. English ships carry three 
quarters of the latter's oversea commerce, and English mer- 
chants get the benefit of a large part of her trade. Enormous 
quantities of cotton and iron goods are annually exported to 
India from Great Britain. English capital, by investing in 
Indian railways and factories, has done much to develop 
the country industrially. From the English upper classes 
come the numerous officials in India who secure profitable 
employment as a result of British control. The Indian na- 
tionalists assert that India has been exploited for the benefit 



404 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of the English and not of the Hindus; that the native in- 
dustries were destroyed by the importation of manufactured 
products from England; and that the factories, mines, and 
railways are owned or controlled by English capitalists. 
Restrictive excise taxes have been laid by the English 
Government on the production of cotton goods designed 
to prevent India from establishing cotton factories of her 
own which would lessen her cotton imports from England. 
They furthermore assert that India is heavily taxed by 
the alien rulers, whose first consideration is for themselves ; 
hence they spend little on the country, especially on edu- 
cation. 

Egypt 

Since the days of the Pharaohs, Egypt has been under 
the rule of foreigners. Persians, Macedonians, Romans, 
Egypt and Arabs, Turks, French, and English have in turn 
Turkey ruled the country. In the beginning of the six- 

teenth century it was organized as a province of the Otto- 
man Empire, and was ruled by a governor sent by the Sul- 
tan of Turkey. Egypt remained subject to the Sultan until 
the early part of the nineteenth century, when she gained 
national independence under a remarkable adventurer 
named Mehemet Ali, who conquered the country and com- 
pelled the Sultan to recognize him and his heirs as its rulers 
under Turkish suzerainty. 

When the construction of the Suez Canal was begun in 
1859, it was generally recognized that Egypt was the key 
England to the control of the Eastern Mediterranean be- 
buys Canal cause the canal lay wholly within her borders ; 

snares .^^ 

from the hence the European powers, especially England 
and France, became interested in her future. 
The Egyptian Khedive, or ruler, Ismail I, was incompetent 
and extravagant, and he was hopelessly involved in debt to 
European bankers, who had encouraged his borrowings. In 
order to pay off part of his debt he offered for sale in 1876 a 
large number of shares of his Suez Canal stock. Disraeli, 
who was English Prime Minister at the time, realizing the 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 405 

political possibilities that lay in this offer, availed himself 
of the opportunity, and made the purchase for the British 
Government. In this way England secured an interest in 
Egypt. 

The country's financial condition grew worse and worse, 
the natural outcome of the extravagance, corruption, and 
incompetence of its rulers. As a result the Dual The re b e i_ 
Control was established in 1877, according to Hon of Arabi 
which England and France took over the man- 
agement of Egyptian finances. There was great discontent 
among the people in Egypt, who suspected that financial 
intervention would inevitably lead to political dependence. 
A rebellion broke out in 1882 under Arabi Pasha against the 
Khedive and his financial backers. The cry, "Egypt for the 
Egyptians! " was raised by the patriotic rebels, who bitterly 
resented the idea of being governed by Christian Europeans. 
The Khedive was too weak to cope with the rebellion, and 
he appealed for help to his financial advisers. France re- 
fused, but England decided to aid him; the Dual Control, 
therefore, came to an end, leaving England alone in control. 
A British army was sent into Egypt, which quickly sup- 
pressed the uprising of Arabi Pasha. It was to remain in the 
country, the British Government declared, until Egyptian 
affairs became more stable, when it was to be withdrawn. 
The British assumed full control of the military as well as 
of the financial affairs of the country. British officers re- 
organized the army, the supreme command of which was 
entrusted to a British general, and the Khedive became 
merely a tool in the hands of the latter. 

The English occupation aroused the Moslem population 
to fury. A great revolt was soon under way among the 
fanatic tribes in the Sudan, the region of the , M h «. 
upper Nile. They found a remarkable leader in 
Mohammed Ahmed, known as the " Mahdi," or Leader, who 
preached a Mohammedan crusade against the Christians 
and who cherished the ambition to found a new Moham- 
medan Empire. The city of Khartum was garrisoned by 
Egyptian and British troops under the command of General 



406 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Charles Gordon, a brave soldier who had distinguished him-' 
self in China. 1 In 1885 Khartum was besieged by a large 
army of "dervishes," as the Mohammedan tribesmen were 
termed, and, after a gallant defense which aroused great 
enthusiasm in England, the entire garrison including Gen- 
eral Gordon was massacred, just before a relief expedition 
reached the city. Great indignation was aroused against the 
Gladstone Ministry, which was accused of being dilatory in 
coming to the defense of General Gordon. The Ministry 
was overthrown, and the Conservatives under Lord Salis- 
bury came into power determined to put down the Mahdi 
and to hold Egypt as a part of the British Empire. In 1896 
an Anglo-Egyptian expedition was dispatched to the Su- 
dan under General Herbert Kitchener, who showed marked 
ability both as an organizer and as a general. He suc- 
ceeded in defeating the "dervishes" at the Battle of Om- 
durman (1898). The Sudan was recovered for the Khe- 
dive, and it is now a "condominion," or under two flags, 
Egyptian and English. 

The British then began completely to reorganize the 
country which became in reality a protectorate of the Em- 
Benefits of pire, though nominally it was under the rule of 
British rule ^ e Kh e ch ve and under the suzerainty of the Sul- 
tan. Lord Cromer, the British Commissioner sent over to 
take charge of affairs in Egypt, greatly distinguished him- 
self by inaugurating reforms of a far-reaching kind. Taxes 
were now fairly levied, and the fellahin, or peasantry, were 
assured of peace, justice, and equity to an extent that 
they had not known for centuries. Splendid irrigation works 
were built, the most famous of which is the Assuan Dam, 
completed in 1902; and railways and factories were intro- 
duced which brought a degree of prosperity to the once 
poverty-stricken land. 

Nevertheless, there has been much discontent with Eng- 
lish rule. As everywhere else, the Egyptians are more anx- 
ious for self-government than for good government, and a 
widespread demand for home rule arose. "Egypt for the 

1 See p. 660. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 407 

Egyptians!" once more became the cry. The Nationalists 
founded papers and societies which conducted The Nation- 
a vigorous agitation for political freedom. Riots alist move- 
and assassination of English officials sometimes 
took place. In 191 3 a concession was made by the British 
Government in the establishment of an Egyptian repre- 
sentative assembly with partial control over the taxes; but 
the government of the country was still mainly in the 
hands of the British Commissioner. On the outbreak of 
the World War in 191 4 and the entrance of Turkey into 
the conflict, the slender tie which connected Egypt with the 
Ottoman Empire was broken, and Egypt was formally de- 
clared a protectorate of the British Empire. 

The Crown Colonies 

The government of the group of British possessions 
known as the Crown Colonies is not unlike that of the royal 
colonies in America before the Revolution. The governor 
and his council are appointed by the British Cabinet; an 
assembly which is for the most part elective constitutes 
the popular element in the government and has power 
to vote the taxes. Typical Crown Colonies are Ceylon, 
Guiana, Jamaica, Malta, and Cyprus. 

Rhodesia, a large region in Africa north of the Transvaal, 
was acquired by the British South Africa Company, a char- 
tered corporation organized by Cecil Rhodes, which governs 
the region. North Borneo is also under the control of a 
chartered company. There is a tendency to transform these 
colonies and similar ones into protectorates or Crown 
Colonies. 

Canada 

Canada was originally a French settlement, and her white 
inhabitants were almost exclusively French at the time of 
the English conquest in 1763. On the eve of the The Quebec 
American Revolution the British Parliament, in Act 
order to hold the loyalty of the French, passed the Quebec 
Act (1774), which recognized the French language, law, and 



408 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

customs, and which gave special privileges to the Catholic 
Church, to which the French inhabitants were devoted. As 
a consequence the latter remained loyal to the British 
Crown during the Revolution. 

An English-speaking element was introduced into Canada 
from two sources, loyalists from the American colonies and 
Discontent emigrants from Great Britain, who settled the 
temo^gov^" re gi° n tnen called Upper Canada, now Ontario, 
ernment The French dwelt in Lower Canada, now Quebec, 
where their language, law, and customs prevailed. In both 
provinces there was considerable discontent with the sys- 
tem of government, in which the governor and his council 
appointed from England predominated over the popular 
assemblies. The latter insisted on being supreme, and there 
arose serious quarrels between them and the governors, 
which were intensified in the case of Lower Canada by racial 
antagonism between the French inhabitants and the English 
officials. In 1837 this dissatisfaction resulted in an uprising. 
Though it was easily put down, the British Government, 
having the American Revolution in mind, was greatly 
alarmed. A special commissioner, Lord Durham, was sent 
to Canada to examine into the Canadian grievances and to 
suggest reforms. 

The Report of Lord Durham, issued in 1839, is the most 
famous document in British imperial history. It has been 
Lord Dur- called the Magna Charta of the colonies, for its 
ham's Re- liberal recommendations became the funda- 
mental principles of England's new colonial 
policy. Lord Durham recommended: (1) that complete 
autonomy be granted to the colonies having representative 
institutions by the establishment of ministerial responsibil- 
ity to the legislatures; and (2) that the various colonies in 
Canada should be united in a federal union under the 
Crown. These suggestions, if acted upon, would replace 
dependence of the colonies on the mother country by asso- 
ciation with her in the Empire. 

Lord Durham's recommendations were promptly trans- 
lated into law. In 1840 Parliament united Upper and Lower 








<< 

oft ffl 

o © H - 



410 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Canada by giving them a common legislature. Seven years 
Spread of later Lord Elgin, Governor of Canada and the 
self-govern- son-in-law of Lord Durham, established the 
principle of responsible government by choos- 
ing a Cabinet having the confidence of the legislature. 
Responsible government once established, it was rapidly 
extended to all British colonies where white inhabitants 
predominated. 

In 1867 another important step was taken by Parliament 
in the passage of the British North America Act, which 
Th Briti h un ited a ^ the Canadian colonies except New- 
North Amer- foundland into a federal union called the Domin- 
ion of Canada. The new Government resembles 
the American system inasmuch as the nine provinces are 
allowed local government, though not to the same degree as 
the States in the American Union. The central Government 
consists of a Parliament of two Houses : a Senate with lim- 
ited powers over legislation, the members of which are ap- 
pointed for life by the Governor-General; and a House of 
Commons elected by popular suffrage with control over the 
Cabinet. Except in the matter of foreign affairs, which are 
still largely in the hands of the British Parliament, Canada 
has all the powers of an independent nation. It may and 
does enact tariffs even on English goods. The only visible 
connection between the Dominion and the mother country 
is the Governor-General, an official appointed by the King 
as his representative and, like him, merely a figurehead. 

Since the passage of this law Canada has made notable 
progress. The vast regions in the West, at first under the 
Progress of control of the Hudson Bay Company, were 
Canada taken over by the Dominion Parliament and 

carved into new provinces. In 1886 the Canadian Pacific 
Railway was completed, and as a consequence the fertile 
lands in the West were rapidly settled and developed so that 
the region is now one of the granaries of the world. Under 
the leadership, first of Sir John Macdonald and later of Sir 
Wilfrid Laurier and Sir Robert Borden, Canada has come 
forward as the most important of the British dominions. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 411 

Australia and New Zealand 

During the middle of the seventeenth century a Dutch- 
man, Tasman, made an extended exploration of the coasts of 
Australia and New Zealand. Later, at the end Settlement 
of the eighteenth century, an Englishman, of Australia 
Captain Cook, came to these islands and took possession 
of them in the name of King George III. In 1788 the Eng- 
lish established a penal settlement at Botany Bay, in Aus- 
tralia, to which English convicts were sent. When, in time, 
free white settlers arrived from England, they objected to 
the convicts as an undesirable class of colonists; so, in 1840, 
the penal colony was officially abolished. Population grew 
slowly, for the island continent, although about as large as 
the United States, afforded few economic opportunities 
besides sheep-raising. Immense regions were, and still are, 
arid wastes unfit for human habitation. In 1851 rich gold 
deposits were discovered, and the influx of settlers which 
followed caused the colony to grow rapidly. The Australians 
are now engaged mainly in grazing and mining; and they 
export large quantities of wool, mutton, and gold. 

Until 1900 there were six distinct colonies, each with its 
own government: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, 
South Australia, West Australia, and the neigh- The Austra- 
boring island of Tasmania. In that year they lian Umon 
organized themselves into a federal union through an act 
of the British Parliament, and they adopted a constitu- 
tion closely modeled on that of the United States. Each 
of the six states in the union has a considerable degree of 
home rule. Common affairs are managed by a Parliament 
composed of two Houses, a Senate to which each state sends 
six members, and a House of Representatives elected by 
popular suffrage. The administration is in the hands of a 
cabinet responsible to the House. The British Crown is 
represented by a Governor-General sent from England. 
As in the case of Canada, Australia has complete autonomy 
in everything except foreign affairs. 

For some years social reform has occupied the attention 



412 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of the Government, which at one time was under the con- 
Social re- trol of a radical Labor Party. Laws were enacted 
forms regulating the relations between capital and 

labor in the matter of hours, wages, and conditions of em- 
ployment. Workingmen's compensation and old-age pen- 
sion laws were passed in the interest of the laboring classes. 
In 1902 the franchise was extended to women, permitting 
them to vote for members of the Federal Parliament. 

New Zealand is the name of a group of islands southeast 
of Australia which were formally annexed to the British 
New Empire in 1839. As early as 1852 local autonomy 

Zealand was g ra nted to the colony through the establish- 

ment of the cabinet system of government. In 1907 it was 
organized as a Dominion and put in the same class with 
Canada and Australia. 

This far-off place, with only one million inhabitants, 
began to attract world-wide attention as a laboratory for 
Political de- experiments in political and social democracy. 
NewZea- 11 A radical party entered the field in 1890, and 
land ft h as dominated the politics of the islands ever 

since. Both Houses of Parliament were made completely 
democratic through the popular election on the basis of 
proportional representation. Women were granted full par- 
liamentary suffrage in 1893. 

Most interesting are New Zealand's experiments in state 
socialism. The Government owns and operates all railways, 
Social de- telephones, and telegraphs, which are adminis- 
NewZea- m tered not primarily for profit, but for the general 
land welfare. The Government also provides fire 

and life insurance, loans money at reasonable rates, grants 
old-age pensions, and rents model homes to workingmen. 
In 1898 a notable law was passed making arbitration 
of labor disputes compulsory, so that New Zealand has 
been called "the land without strikes." As most of the 
inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, the radical party 
determined to prevent the growth of a landed aristocracy. 
Heavy taxes were laid on large estates, and some of them 
were taken over by the Government and leased in small 
parcels to farmers. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 413 

South Africa 

South Africa was originally settled by Dutch colonists in 
the seventeenth century. French Huguenots, fleeing from 
persecution, also came there. It remained a Friction be- 
Dutch colony till 18 14, when it was given to the jj^n/"^ 
English by the Congress of Vienna. Almost Boers 
immediately immigration from Great Britain set in. Fric- 
tion arose between the Government and the Boers, as the 
Dutch were called, over the introduction of the English 
language, laws, and customs. In 1834 the Boers were greatly 
angered because the British Parliament abolished negro 
slavery in South Africa; and, furthermore, most of the com- 
pensation allowed to the Boer masters went into the 
pockets of the bankers through whom the financial trans- 
action was conducted. So incensed were the Boers at Brit- 
ish rule that, like the Children of Israel of old, they decided 
to wander forth into the wilderness to seek other homes. 

In 1836 there began an exodus of Boers known as the 
"Great Trek." About ten thousand men, women, and 
children took their household possessions and Foundation 
migrated northward in order to get away from African Re- 
the British. Some settled in Natal, some in the public and 

i-\ t-» • 1 1 T-i • • 1 r tne Orange 

Orange River country; but the British army fol- Free State 
lowed them and took possession of these places. In disgust 
many of the Boers "trekked" still farther north and 
finally settled in a place called the Transvaal, where they 
organized a state which they named the South African Re- 
public. The independence of this Republic was recognized 
by the English in 1852; two years later the independence 
of the other Boer Republic, the Orange Free State, was 
also recognized. For about a generation the Boers lived in 
peaceful isolation, gaining their livelihood by pastoral and 
agricultural pursuits like the patriarchs in the Old Testa- 
ment whom they greatly admired. 

But their dream of independence was rudely shattered in 
1877, when Great Britain announced the annexation of the 
South African Republic on the ground that her harsh treat- 



414 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ment of the natives was arousing the latter to war against 
War be- all whites and was therefore endangering the 

landancTthe P eace of the British inhabitants. Angered by 
Boers this action the Boers sent a delegation to London 

to plead for the restitution of their independence, but no 
attention was paid to them. In 1881 they rose in rebellion 
and defeated a detachment of British troops at Majuba 
Hill. Imperialist feeling in England ran high, and demands 
were made upon Gladstone, then Prime Minister, to avenge 
the defeat by sending a British army to Africa. But Glad- 
stone, who had little sympathy with imperialism, was most 
conciliatory to the Boers. In an agreement known as the 
London Convention, concluded in 1884, the British Govern- 
ment recognized the independence of the South African 
Republic. However, a clause was inserted which guaran- 
teed the right of all white men to reside and to trade in 
the Republic, and which also guaranteed fair treatment in 
regard to taxes to the inhabitants who were not citizens. 
In England this settlement aroused great criticism, and 
Gladstone's action was denounced as having lowered the 
prestige of the Empire. There was elation, however, among 
the Boers, who felt that they had humbled the pride of 
England. 

Everything now pointed to a final settlement of the 
South African problem when, in 1885, gold was discovered 
The Uit- in the Rand, a region in the Transvaal. A large 
landers immigration, chiefly of Englishmen, set in to 

this isolated place, so that in a few years the population of 
the Republic almost trebled. The little town of Johannes- 
burg suddenly found itself a bustling city of one hundred 
thousand people. A troublesome situation now arose in the 
Boer Republic, as the majority of its inhabitants were 
Uitlanders, or foreigners, a restless, adventurous element 
despising the simple, old-fashioned Dutch folk who ruled 
over them. In the eyes of the latter the discovery of gold 
was a great calamity, for they rightly feared that it would 
lead to the disruption of their country. The Uitlanders 
were anxious to get control of the Government and, being 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 415 

English, to hand it over to Great Britain, whose policies 
were more in harmony with their interests. The Boers, on 
the contrary, were determined to prevent this at all costs. 
Restrictive laws were passed which made it practically 
impossible for a foreigner to become a citizen. Although 
the majority of the population was in this way disfran- 
chised, it was, nevertheless, compelled to bear all the bur- 
dens of citizenship, such as taxation and military service. 
The Republic discriminated against the Uitlanders in many 
other ways, and they appealed to the British Government, 
as British citizens, to redress their grievances. Moreover, 
the Boer administration was incompetent and unprogres- 
sive, which irritated the non-Boers who desired a more 
progressive government for the rapidly increasing popu- 
lation of the Republic. 

There appeared a remarkable man in South Africa, a 
capitalist-statesman named Cecil Rhodes, who became the 
leading protagonist of British interests. Rhodes Rhodes and 
was an Englishman who early in life had emigrated Kru s er 
to South Africa, where he became immensely wealthy by 
getting control of diamond and gold mines. He was an en- 
thusiastic believer in the extension of British influence over 
all Southern and Eastern Africa, which was to be united by 
a railway from the Cape to Cairo in Egypt. Rhodes was 
a man of great practical ability and foresight, and a typical 
millionaire in politics, bold, daring, and unscrupulous. 
Opposed to him was the leading protagonist of the Boers, 
Paul Kruger, the President of the South African Republic. 
Kruger had been in the "Great Trek" as a child of ten, and 
he naturally grew up to distrust the English, whom he sus- 
pected of constantly plotting the destruction of Boer in- 
fluence in South Africa. Kruger was like a character out of 
the Old Testament, patriarchal, simple in his ideas and in 
his manner of living, and a stern, unflinching Calvinist in 
religion. Although not a statesman in the accepted sense of 
the term, he proved himself to be no mean antagonist to the 
masterful Rhodes. 

The latter was in close touch with Joseph Chamberlain, 



416 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the British Colonial Secretary. They agreed that the Boers 
The Jame- were a danger to British supremacy in South 
son Raid Africa 1 and they determined to bring on a war 
which would result in the annexation of the Transvaal to 
the British Empire. In 1895 a conspiracy known as the 
"Jameson Raid" was engineered by Rhodes. Dr. Jameson, 
a British official, led a raid into the Transvaal with the 
declared object of helping the Uitlanders. The Boers suc- 
ceeded in capturing the raiders, and they handed them over 
to the British authorities for punishment. But the British 
treated the raiders very leniently and actually shielded 
Rhodes, the arch-conspirator against the independence of 
the Republic. The infuriated Boers now believed that the 
British Government cared little about the rights of the 
Uitlanders but was merely using them as a pretext to de- 
stroy the Republic. They consequently prepared for war 
with England. 

In 1897 Great Britain sent a special commissioner, Sir 
Alfred Milner, to investigate the grievances of the Uit- 
The Boer landers. His report was a severe denunciation 
War of the Boer Government which, he declared, was 

keeping British subjects in the position of helots. He also 
charged that the Boers were aiming at nothing less than the 
destruction of British influence in all of South Africa. Great 
Britain thereupon demanded that the suffrage be extended 
to the Uitlanders on more liberal terms. The Republic re- 
fused this demand, a step approved by the Orange Free 
State. 

In October, 1899, war broke out between the two tiny 
Boer Republics and the British Empire. Contrary to ex- 
pectations, it lasted for almost three years. In England 
the war was unpopular with a large section of the people, 
particularly with the Liberals, who denounced it as an act 
of aggression against the inoffensive Boers in the interest 
of South African capitalists. Large mass-meetings of "pro- 
Boers" were held all over England, at which the Conserva- 

1 A Boer organization, known as the Bond, was conducting an agitation for 
Dutch supremacy in South Africa. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 417 

tive Ministry was severely criticized for being the tool of 
interested financiers. 

At the outset the British armies suffered humiliating 
defeats inflicted on them by the Boer generals, De Wet and 
Botha, whose skillful strategy won the admira- Defeat of 
tion of the whole world. England was finally the Boers 
forced to send larger armies under the command of her ablest 
generals, Lords Roberts and Kitchener, before she succeeded 
in vanquishing the Boers. Peace was concluded in May, 
1902, when the two republics lost their independence and 
became colonies in the British Empire. 

There was great disgust in England with the Conserva- 
tive Party because of its conduct of the war, and, in the 
elections of 1906, the Liberals were overwhelm- Boers 
ingly successful. The new Ministry determined granted self- 

. i-i m" government 

to spare no pains to bring about a reconcilia- 
tion of the Boers to British rule. Accordingly, responsible 
government was granted in 1906 to the Transvaal; and a 
year later it was extended to the Orange Free State. The 
Dutch language was put on an equality with English, and 
everything possible was done to make the Boers feel that 
the English did not regard them as a conquered people. 

In 1909 the four South African colonies, the Cape of Good 
Hope, the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Natal, or- 
ganized themselves under an act of the British The south 
Parliament into a federal union on the model of African 
Canada. They adopted a constitution which 
gave limited home rule to the "provinces," as the colonies 
were now called. The central Government consisted of a 
Parliament of two Houses and a Cabinet responsible to the 
lower House. The first Prime Minister of the Union of South 
Africa was none other than Louis Botha who, but a short 
time before, had fought so valiantly against the British. 
As the Boers are a majority of the white population in the 
Union, its administration fell under their control. They were, 
however, grateful for the confidence and generosity of the 
English in giving them responsible government, and they 
have proved themselves to be loyal citizens of the Empire. 



4i 8 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Imperial Federation 

The world-wide Empire of Great Britain had been built 
up with but little conscious effort on the part of the Gov- 
The Mer- ernment. For centuries Englishmen had left 
cantile their country for other lands, some to seek homes 

theory in . . " . 

regard to in new continents, as in America, others to seek 
colonies fortune and adventure among ancient peoples, 

as in India. These adventurous children of England had 
planted her flag in every clime, but it was not till the end 
of the eighteenth century that England realized that she 
was an empire. She then set about binding the various 
colonies more closely to her. This she did in two ways, by 
asserting the full control of Parliament over them, particu- 
larly in the matter of taxation, and by economic legisla- 
tion which subordinated the interests of the colonies to 
those of the mother country. This economic policy was 
dominated by the then prevailing Mercantile theory, ac- 
cording to which the chief function of a colony was to supply 
raw materials to the mother country in order to make her 
independent of foreign nations; and the colonists were to 
buy manufactured articles from her only. In accordance 
with this theory legislation was passed by Parliament which 
forbade the colonies from trading with other countries and 
from establishing manufactures of their own. This, com- 
bined with the efforts of Parliament to tax them without 
their consent, resulted in the American Revolution and the 
consequent loss of the thirteen colonies. 

The American Revolution undoubtedly did much to in- 
augurate England's new colonial policy, of which Lord 
The Man- Durham's Report is the culmination. But even 
Chester more important in the establishment of the new 

regard to policy was the breakdown of the mercantile 
colonies theory due to the Industrial Revolution, which 

made England "the workshop of the world." Her great 
need now was numerous customers for her surplus manu- 
factures, and she therefore cared far more for the trade of 
Germany and France than she did for that of her sparsely 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 419 

inhabited colonies. The Manchester School, 1 whose influ- 
ence displaced that of the Mercantilists, taught that a 
country, in order to be prosperous, ought to buy in the 
cheapest market and to sell in the dearest, irrespective of 
political affiliations. The great prosperity that England 
enjoyed after her adoption of free trade convinced her of the 
truth of the Manchestrian doctrines. 

A changed attitude toward the colonies was the result. 
They were now regarded as more of a burden than an asset 
to the mother country, for she was obliged to tax Lack of in _ 
herself heavily in order to maintain a large navy terest in the 
for their protection. A general opinion began 
to prevail that a colony was like a fruit which, when ripe, 
drops from the tree; hence the colonies should be allowed 
to develop into independent states whom England would 
recognize in a spirit of good- will. The Liberal Party that 
controlled the Government during the greater part of the 
nineteenth century were "little Englanders," as they neg- 
lected the Empire and concentrated all their attention 
upon domestic reforms. There was so little interest in the 
colonies that the cabinet position of Colonial Secretary had 
come to be regarded as a sinecure with merely perfunctory 
duties. Curiously enough, the colonies were more anxious 
to be with England than she was to be with them ; they feared 
that independence might lead to their being conquered by 
foreign nations who would force upon them an alien civiliza- 
tion. For a long time only the slender tie of sentiment 
held the British Empire together. 

At the end of the nineteenth century, a marked change 
appeared in England's attitude toward her colonies. The 
dissolution of the British Empire was no longer The new 
viewed with complacency; on the contrary, a imperial 
powerful imperial sentiment grew, both in Eng- spin 
land and in the colonies, which demanded closer bonds of 
union. This new imperialism was warmly championed by 
the Conservative Party, and its leader, Disraeli, made elo- 
quent appeals to the imagination of the English people by 

1 See p. 43. 



420 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

picturing to them the greatness of their dominions. Im- 
perial societies were formed to foster a love for the Empire. 
Many enthusiastic Imperialists, notably the poet Kipling, 
preached that it was England's duty to "take up the white 
man's burden," namely, to carry Western civilization to 
the "lesser breeds," or savage races, and to the backward 
peoples of Asia, in order to bring greater, happiness in the 
world. In 1897, on the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Vic- 
toria's accession to the throne, there took place a celebra- 
tion known as the "Diamond Jubilee," to which represen- 
tatives from every corner of her world-wide Empire came 
to do her homage. In the streets of London there was a 
wonderful pageant of races, Malays from the Straits Set- 
tlements, Chinese from Hongkong, negroes from Africa, 
French and Indians from Canada, Dutch from the Cape, 
Hindus, Australians, Canadians, all happily mingling to 
show the unity as well as the diversity of the dominions. 
It was felt by many at the time that the British Empire 
had experienced a new birth. 

There were several causes for this change of sentiment. 
In the first place, the colonies were rapidly developing 
Causes of economically and therefore offered a most at- 
the new im- tractive field for the investment of British capi- 
tal. Millions of dollars were invested in building 
railways and factories, and in opening mines. These in- 
vestments were safe because order was well maintained 
even in the uncivilized parts of the Empire. The growth of 
population in the self-governing colonies and the demands 
for European products in India gave a great stimulus to 
British manufactures, so that the colonial trade of Great 
Britain began to rival her foreign trade. 1 Another reason 
was the change in the international situation. After 1870 
every great Power in Europe except England became a 
member either of the Triple or of the Dual Alliance. Eng- 

1 From 1885 to 1913 the British exports to her colonies of articles wholly or 
mainly manufactured rose from £71,300,000 to £172,000,000, an increase of 
141 per cent. From 1885 to 1913 British imports of food from her colonies 
rose from £19,800,000 to £60,300,000, an increase of 204 percent. See P. and 
A. Hurd, The New Empire Partnership (1915), p. 234. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 421 

land prided herself on her "splendid isolation" in interna- 
tional affairs, feeling sure that her insular position could 
be well defended by her powerful fleet. But the rivalry of 
Germany, particularly in the matter of naval expansion, 
made her feel more and more uneasy and she began to con- 
sider the help that the colonies might render in case she 
were involved in war. On their part, the self-governing 
colonies had become all the more loyal to the mother coun- 
try because of the greater freedom granted to them. They 
dreaded nothing so much as falling into the hands of an 
alien Power, and they therefore desired to be more closely 
identified with the mother country than ever before. 

The crisis came in the Boer War, in the outcome of which 
the future of the British Empire was largely involved. To 
the English, the war was one for the defense of Loyalty of 
the Empire; for, had the Boers won, the British mVThTBoer 
would have been driven out of South Africa; War 
and this might have led to serious consequences in other 
parts of the Empire. The colonies rallied loyally and de- 
votedly to the mother country: Australians, Canadians, 
and New Zealanders fought side by side with Englishmen, 
Scotchmen, Irishmen, and Welshmen for the unity of the 
Empire. 

The imperial consciousness which followed the Boer War 
gave strength to a new idea, Imperial Federation. Its father 
was Joseph Chamberlain, who in 1895 had be- imperial 
come Colonial Secretary in the Cabinet of Lord Federation 
Salisbury. Thereafter he tirelessly devoted his energies and 
talents to the furtherance of this idea; and he succeeded 
in converting many of his fellow countrymen, who had sel- 
dom if ever thought much about the Empire. To draw the 
colonies and the mother country into a closer and more per- 
fect union was the main principle of Imperial Federation. 
In harmony with this movement a series of Imperial Con- 
ferences was held, the first one in 1887 and the second in 
1 897, under the presidency of Chamberlain ; other gatherings 
were held in 1902, 1907, 191 1, and 1917. The Conference 
of 1907 provided for regular quadrennial sessions of the 



422 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Premiers of the colonies and of England. As a result of 
these conferences the following plans for closer union were 
discussed: (i) that the United Kingdom and the self-gov- 
erning colonies form a federal union by creating an Imperial 
Parliament to represent them; (2) that a Zollverein, or cus- 
toms union, be formed according to which preferential 
tariffs were to be established between England and the 
colonies, and a protective tariff on all foreign goods, on the 
ground that the Empire as a whole was self-sufficient eco- 
nomically, the colonies being rich in agriculture and raw 
material and England in manufactures and capital; and 
(3) that a common system of imperial defense be organ- 
ized, the expense to be borne by the colonies as well as by 
England. 

There are great difficulties in the way of reconstituting 
the British Empire on a federal basis. What about the 
Difficulties position of the "predominant partner," England, 
in the way in the union? Are her great world interests to be 

of federation , - r ^ . 

at the mercy 01 representatives irom Canada 
or New Zealand? What about the position of India and 
Egypt in the new scheme? Would it be wise for England to 
give up her historic free-trade policy and so sacrifice much of 
her great foreign trade in order to gain that of her colonies? 
Would the colonies be willing to remain purely agricultural 
in order that England manufacture for them? These are 
some of the questions asked of those who favor Imperial 
Federation. 

In spite of the difficulties in the way, there was so much 
enthusiasm for the idea that important steps have been 
Preferential taken to realize it. In 1897 Canada allowed a 
tariffs reduction of one eighth of her tariff on English 

goods; later, in 1898, it was further reduced by one fourth; 
and, in 1900, by one third. Australia followed suit by allow- 
ing a reduction of thirty per cent, and New Zealand, fifty. 
It was hoped that this policy of Imperial Preference pursued 
by the colonies would cause England to abandon free trade 
and to enter into an economic union with them ; but tariff 
reform, or protection, championed by the Conservatives, 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 423 

failed to win over the British voters, who continued to elect 
Liberal majorities. 

The staggering cost of maintaining the huge British navy 
induced the colonies to make some effort to lighten the 
burdens of the British taxpayer in order to show Colonies and 
themselves active partners in the Empire. New the British 
Zealand contributed a warship; South Africa 
began to make annual contributions to the British naval 
budget; Australia began building a navy of her own, to be 
put under the supreme command of the British naval au- 
thorities; Canada could not decide whether to make annual 
contributions or to build a separate navy, though eager to 
help in imperial defense. 

The liberal attitude of Great Britain toward her colo- 
nies was vindicated during the World War. The Loyalty of 
colonials responded to the call of the mother colonies in 
country with magnificent loyalty and devo- 
tion ; they spared neither men nor money in giving aid to 
England in her struggle against Germany. 



CHAPTER XVI 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

1850-1914 

Establishment of the Dual Monarchy 

For many centuries Austria has been a dynasty rather 
than a nation. There is hardly a people in East-Central 
Autocratic Europe that has not at one time or another been 
rule of the under the sway of the Hapsburgs, whose antiq- 
uity and renown so filled the courts of Europe 
that a marriage with a member of this House became the 
great ambition of the other reigning families. By means of 
marriage and conquest the Austrian dynasty succeeded in 
establishing an enormous polyglot empire which was ruled 
autocratically from Vienna. As in many other countries 
containing a heterogeneous population, absolute monarchy 
was considered to be the best means of maintaining har- 
mony, order, and stability among the various races. Ab- 
solutism became a passion, almost a propaganda, among 
the Austrians, just as democracy was among the French. 
As we have already seen, Vienna was the citadel of reac- 
tion in Europe during the Period of Restoration, for when- 
ever a blow at democracy was to be struck, Austria could 
be depended upon to strike it. 

Austria's leadership in Germany was unquestioned for 
centuries. The element of romance in the Holy Roman 
Th H 1 Empire which greatly appealed to German senti- 
Roman Em- ment, even though the Empire was but a tradi- 
pire tion and the Emperor but a shadow. When the 

Hapsburgs became Emperors of Austria after Napoleon had 
abolished the Holy Roman Empire, their influence among 
the German people sensibly diminished; and it vanished 
almost completely when Prussia came forward as the 
doughty wielder of the German sword. The political his- 
tory of Austria during the nineteenth century may be 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 425 

summed up as the gradual weakening of her influence in 
Western and its gradual strengthening in Eastern Europe. 

The Austro-Sardinian War of 1859 resulted in the loss 
of Lombardy. 1 Defeat in war has always been considered 
an unanswerable criticism of absolute monarchy, The 
and the Austrian Government was forced to ''February 

, .j Patent 

make some concessions to democracy in order to 
forestall a possible uprising. Accordingly, Emperor Francis 
Joseph I granted a constitution, called the "Diploma of 
i860," which, as amended in the following year, was known 
as the "February Patent." This document introduced a 
modified parliamentary regime by establishing a representa- 
tive assembly for the whole Empire known as the Reichs- 
rat, composed of two chambers. One, the House of Lords, 
consisted of hereditary nobles, high officials, dignitaries of 
the Church, and others whom the Emperor appointed; the 
other, the House of Representatives, consisted of members 
elected, not directly by popular vote, but by the local diets 
of the various regions. These diets were chosen by electors 
divided into four classes, landowners, merchants, the mass 
of city dwellers, and the inhabitants of the rural districts. 
Property qualifications for voting were so arranged that 
preponderance was given to the landed nobility and the 
wealthy merchants who dominated the local diets. The ap- 
portionment of delegates to the Reichsrat was also arranged 
so as to give a preponderant voice to the German-speaking 
regions, in order to insure their control of the Imperial 
Legislature. 

No arrangement could be permanent in the Hapsburg 
dominions which was unsatisfactory to the Magyars, or 
Hungarians, the most militant element in the Hungarian 
Empire. The Hungarians were unalterably op- opposition 
posed to the constitution of 1861, for by treat- 
ing their country as a province it did not recognize what 
they claimed were the historic rights of Hungary as a 
separate nation. They even threatened revolution, but 
they were held in check by Francis Deak, the one time asso- 

1 See p. 2 14. 



426 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

elate of Louis Kossuth and now the trusted leader of the 
Hungarian people. What Deak desired was not independ- 
ence, but complete autonomy which would allow Hungary 
to live her own national life and yet permit her to cooperate 
with Austria in matters which directly concerned them both ; 
in short, an intimate alliance between the two countries. 
The Government at Vienna refused to concede to Hungary's 
demand, and there began a deadlock between the two 
which lasted for five years. But the crushing defeat of 
Austria in the Seven Weeks' War and the consequent loss 
of Venetia changed the mood of the Government. "What 
does Hungary want?" now asked the Emperor of Deak. 
"Only what she wanted before Sadowa," was the reply. 

In 1867 the "February Patent" was abrogated, and, 
instead, a new constitution, known as the Ausgleich, or 
The Aus- Compromise, was promulgated. This famous 
gleich document was the work largely of two Hun- 

garians, Deak and Count Julius Andrassy, and of Emperor 
Francis Joseph and his Minister, Count Beust. According 
to the Compromise of 1867, a unique political system, the 
Dual Monarchy, was established, consisting of the Empire 
of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The two countries 
were to be separate states under one flag; each was to have 
its own constitution, parliament, ministry, courts, admin- 
istration, and official language, but they were to be united 
in a personal union through a common sovereign, who was 
to be known as Emperor in Austria and as King in Hun- 
gary. Interests common to both, such as foreign affairs, 
war, and finance, were to be conducted by a common Min- 
istry and supervised by a body known as the "Delega- 
tions," two committees of sixty members each, one chosen 
by the Parliament of Austria and the other by that of Hun- 
gary. The Delegations were to sit separately and to meet 
alternately at Vienna and at Budapest. There was also a 
provision for a customs and trade alliance, requiring a com- 
mon tariff policy for both countries, to be renewed every 
ten years by an agreement between the two Parliaments. 
Subsequent to this union the fortune of each nation fol- 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 427 

lowed its own path, and a comprehension of their develop- 
ment will best be obtained by treating the history of the 
two nations as independent entities. 

Austria and her Race Problems 

Austria has been described as "a Slav house with a Ger- 
man facade," as only a minority of the inhabitants of the 
Empire are of German-speaking stock. 1 These 
live mainly in Upper and Lower Austria, Salz- 
burg, and in the Tyrol. Excepting the Tyrolese, who are 
peasants, the Germans are generally of the middle and 
upper classes, the prosperous and educated element, who 
have long dominated the government and society in Aus- 
tria. About half of the population consists of Slavs, who are 
divided into many groups speaking diverse Slavic dialects. 
Most important among these groups are the Czechs who 
live in Bohemia, although many are constantly migrating to 
German-speaking parts of the Empire. Until recently the 
Czechs were poor peasants, but the economic development 
of Bohemia has produced among them a middle class which 
is intensely race conscious, with the result that a serious 
problem has been created for the German-speaking rulers of 
the Empire. The Czechs maintain that Bohemia, like Hun- 
gary, is a historic unity; hence they are entitled to the same 
degree of independence as the Hungarians. There exists in 
Bohemia, however, a minority of Germans, who are strongly 
opposed to home rule which, they declare, would mean the 
total suppression of the German language and influence; they, 
therefore, favor a continuance of Austrian rule. Between the 
Czechs and the Germans there has grown up a very bitter 
feeling which frequently finds expression in violent language 
and riots. The problem of the Germans in Bohemia is not 
unlike that of the Ulster Protestants in Ireland. 

1 According to the census of 1910 the population of Austria was about 
28,500,000. Of these 10,000,000, or thirty-five per cent, were German; 16,250,- 
000, or fifty-eight per cent, were Slav; and 800,000, or three per cent, were 
Italian. Of the Slavs there were 6,500,000 Czechs and Slovaks, 5,000,000 Poles, 
3,500,000 Ruthenians, 1,250,000 Slovenes, and 800,000 Croats and Serbs (those 
in Bosnia and Herzegovina not included). There were also about 2,000,000 
Jews, who were included among the German-speaking inhabitants. 



428 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Poles live in their historic home, Galicia, which 
was once a part of the old Kingdom of Poland. Unlike the 
„,, „ , other partitioners of Poland, Russia and Prussia, 

The Poles . , . , 

Austria has been most generous in her treatment 
of the Poles, who are allowed considerable local autonomy 
and the use of their language in the schools. In gratitude, 
the Poles have become the stoutest supporters of the Haps- 
burg regime, without, however, losing sight of a possible 
restoration of their fatherland. 

A large part of the population of Galicia consists of 
Ruthenians, or Ukrainians, who are of the same blood, lan- 
The Ruth- guage, and religion as the Little Russians in 
emans Russia. 1 These Ruthenians are generally peas- 

ants who work on the lands of the Polish nobility. The 
Vienna Government, out of fear that Russia might desire 
to incorporate the Ruthenians, whom she regards as Rus- 
sians, has tried to curry favor with them by granting sub- 
sidies to their schools and by appointing some of them to 
public office. There are also in Galicia many Jews, who are 
in the main small shopkeepers and handicraftsmen. Both 
Ruthenians and Jews are discriminated against and op- 
pressed by the masters of the province, the Poles. 

The Slavs in Southern Austria are not so highly developed 
as those in the North, and are separated from their kinsmen 
The Southern by a wedge of Germans and Hungarians. Most 
Slavs Q f them are peasants, and many are even in the 

pastoral stage of development. The most important groups 
of these Southern Slavs, or Jugo Slavs as they are called, 
are the Slovenes, who speak a Slavic dialect which they 
call "Illyrian," and the Serbs and Croats, who are of the 
same group and speak the same language as the people of 
Serbia. 

Istria and Trent ino comprise Italia irredenta (Unredeemed 
Italy), provinces inhabited by the Italians who remained 
^, T ,. subject to Hapsburg rule notwithstanding the 

The Italians J . , , T _. . f T i ^ • i 

formation of the Kingdom of Italy. I rieste, the 
principal seaport of the Dual Monarchy, is predominantly 

1 See p. 529. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 429 

Italian. The Italians look forward to the day when they 
shall be "redeemed " from Austrian rule and be incorporated 
with Italy, and they frequently organize "irredentist" 
demonstrations against Austria. To lose Trieste would al- 
most destroy Austria as a maritime nation and would, 
moreover, give Italy complete control of the Adriatic. In 
order to weaken Italian influence the Vienna Government 
has encouraged the settlement of Slavs in Istria, so that 
the latter are rapidly becoming the majority in this old 
Italian region, once a part of the Republic of Venice. In 
the quarrels between the Italians and Slavs which continu- 
ally take place, the influence of the Government is thrown 
on the side of the latter in the hope of so weakening the 
former that Italy may have no "national" claim to the 
region. 

The "dualism" established in 1867 was really an alli- 
ance between the dominant races in each country, the Ger- 
mans in Austria and the Magyars in Hungary, -j^e na- 
in order the better to keep the Slavs in subjec- tiona i move- 

_~ . , , r 1 • ment among 

tion. During the latter part of the nineteenth the subject 
century there began a revival of nationalism races 
among the submerged races which, at times, threatened the 
very existence of the Dual Monarchy. This took the form 
of a desire for the recognition of their languages in the Gov- 
ernment and in the schools. Each "nation" in the Empire 
demanded the establishment by the Government of a na- 
tional university, where its language and history would be 
taught in order to preserve the "national culture." This 
demand was a part of a political agitation in favor of "fed- 
eralism," or the establishment of Austria-Hungary as a 
federal empire, based upon race units and united only for in- 
ternational purposes. Even the most enthusiastic nation- 
alists in the Dual Monarchy did not advocate its dissolu- 
tion into separate nations, for fear that powerful neighbors, 
like Russia and Germany, would absorb them. Although 
there is no love for Austria among her subject races, they 
yet feel that she fulfills an important function in unit- 
ing a heterogeneous population that could be united in no 



430 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

other way. "If Austria did not exist, it would have been 
necessary to invent her," is the opinion of a Bohemian 
historian. 

What are the bonds which unite this many-nation Em- 
pire, which seems ever on the point of dissolution, and yet 
Bonds of has managed to survive for so many centuries? 
union First and foremost is the Hapsburg dynasty it- 

self which is the pivot and center of all the unifying forces. 
As there is no common nationality, the Dual Monarchy 
has developed a kind of dynastic patriotism, which has 
found expression in loyalty to the person of the Emperor- 
King. The bureaucracy is another powerful bond of union. 
Although it is not so efficient or so honest as that in the Ger- 
man Empire, it is far less rigid and more in touch with the 
mass of the people. It has been an established policy of the 
Government to appoint as officials representatives of the 
various races, so that Germans, Magyars, and Slavs are to 
be found in Austrian officialdom. This policy has softened 
the antagonism to the monarchy among the most influen- 
tial elements in the Empire. Another unifying force is the 
Roman Catholic Church, which unites in one great religious 
society millions of Germans, Magyars, and Slavs. 1 The 
Church is favored by the Government in many ways, for 
the Hapsburgs have been ardent champions of the Catholic 
faith ever since the Protestant Revolution. Church influ- 
ences are powerful in the politics and government of the 
Dual Monarchy. Strong clerical parties have come to the 
front in recent years that emphasize the unity of the Catho- 
lic Empire as against the separatism of the various races. 

A most potent cause of the continued existence of Aus- 
tria has been, strange to say, the very struggle between the 
Division races. Divide et impera has been the policy of 
among the the Hapsburgs, as it has been that of other dy- 
nasties ruling over heterogeneous populations. 
It so happens that each region is inhabited by a dominant 

1 The majority of the inhabitants of Austria-Hungary are Roman Catholics. 
Many of the Slavs, however, belong to the Orthodox, or Russian, faith; many 
others are Uniates. See p. 506. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 431 

and by a subordinate race; in Bohemia they are Ger- 
mans and Czechs; in Hungary, Magyars and Slavs; in 
Galicia, Poles and Ruthenians; in Istria, Italians and 
Slovenes. This results in intra-racial struggles which are 
often encouraged by the Government to distract the non- 
German nationalities from an anti-Austrian propaganda. 
It also tries to placate them by timely concessions, conduct- 
ing a species of internal foreign policy by making alliances 
with some races as against others. If the dominant race in 
a region becomes too arrogant and threatens to secede, then 
the Government begins to favor the subordinate race. More 
than once have the haughty Magyars been brought to 
terms by a threat from Vienna to rouse the Slavs against 
them. In this way the Dual Monarchy has been able to 
lead a charmed life. Disruption, if it ever comes, can 
come from two sources only, the secession of Hungary or 
the active interference of Russia in behalf of the subject 
Slavs. 

Austria (1867-1914) 

The Reichsrat established in 1861 continues to be the 
Parliament in Austria, although it no longer has any au- 
thority in Hungary. Its powers are, in theory, p OW er of the 
like those of any other European parliament, but Em P eror 
its influence is in reality considerably less than that of 
the Emperor. Ministers are nominally responsible to the 
Reichsrat, but the factional and racial struggles within this 
body have so weakened it that the Emperor frequently 
decides on the appointment of the Cabinet. An extraor- 
dinary power is given by the constitution to the Emperor, 
who may issue decrees that have the force of laws when the 
Reichsrat is not in session. 

During the first decade after 1867 the Reichsrat was 
controlled by the German Liberals. The main policy of 
this party was ''centralism," by which was The 
meant that the authority of the Vienna Gov- German 
ernment should continue unimpaired. They also 
advocated that German should be the only official Ian- 



432 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

guage in all parts of the Austrian dominions, and that it 
should be the only language taught in the schools. These 
German Liberals were opposed to clericalism, and they 
demanded that the influence of the Church in the Govern- 
ment should be eliminated. In 1868 they succeeded in pass- 
ing a series of secularizing laws. Civil marriage was per- 
mitted under certain circumstances; the public elementary 
schools were taken away from the control of the Church 
and put under that of the local authorities; and civil equality 
was decreed between Catholics and non-Catholics. These 
laws were denounced by Pope Pius IX as "damnable and 
abominable," and as violating the Concordat of 1855. A 
Kulturkampf was, however, avoided by timely concessions 
on both sides. 

Race conflicts and language issues have constituted the 
sum total of Austrian politics during the last generation. 
The advance guard of militant Slavism was the 
Czechs, who, because their national demands 
were not granted, resolved on a policy of "passive resist- 
ance," namely, to refuse to send delegates to the Reichsrat 
and so to destroy its moral authority. During the German 
Liberal Ministry of Prince Adolf Auersperg (1871-79), 
severe measures were taken against the Czechs: their jour- 
nals were suppressed, the editors fined or jailed, and patri- 
otic associations and public meetings were broken up by the 
police. 

A demand for universal suffrage was voiced by the Social- 
ists and a group calling itself the Young Czechs. The latter 
The Young were radical democrats as well as nationalists ; 
Czechs they were opposed to the feudal and clerical ten- 

dencies of the Old Czechs, as the one-time Bohemian na- 
tionalists were called, as well as to their policy of "passive 
resistance"; they, on the contrary, wished to participate 
actively in Austrian politics in order to wring concessions 
for Bohemia. A new electoral law, passed in 1871, abolished 
the indirect election of members to the Reichsrat by the 
local diets, and established direct election by the voters 
themselves; but the old division of the electors into four 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 433 

classes, with the predominance of the landlords and mer- 
chants, was continued. 1 

A financial panic which broke out in 1873 discredited 
the German Liberal Government, which was held responsible 
for it. It had incurred the displeasure of the The Taaffe 
Emperor also by its uncompromising "Ger- favors' the 
manism," which, he feared, might disrupt the Slavs 
Empire. In 1879 a new Ministry, headed by Count Taaffe, 
came into power which was supported by the Conservatives, 
Clericals, and the various Slav groups. It remained in office 
for fourteen years and marked a growing tendency of the 
Empire to shift from a German to a Slavic basis. In Bo- 
hemia the Czechs were favored as against the Germans, who 
were now rapidly losing their influence. In 1882 the ancient 
German University of Prague was divided into two, one 
German, the other, Czech. Further concessions were made 
to the non-German tongues; even the "Illyrian" speech of 
the Slovenes was to some extent recognized. These con- 
cessions were made in return for the support given to the 
Taaffe Ministry by the Young Czechs, who had triumphed 
over the Old Czechs in Bohemian politics. 

When Austria had been detached from Germany after the 
Seven Weeks' War, the Germans found themselves a mi- 
nority in the Hapsburg dominions. They now felt Germanism 
that their language and culture were in danger in Austna 
of being wiped out by a flood of Slavism, and they deter- 
mined to resist desperately any concession to the non-Ger- 
man tongues. In 1 880 they organized an association known 
as the Schulverein, or School Union, which grew rapidly and 
became a powerful weapon with which to defend the Ger- 
man language. The Slavic languages were despised by the 
Germans as barbarous dialects without a literature or his- 
tory and unknown to the world of letters and science. In 
derision of their claims for recognition a German once 
entered a local Slovene assembly carrying the whole of 
Slovenian literature under his arm. 

1 In the election of 1890 the results showed one deputy for every sixty land- 
lords, one for every twenty-five merchants, one for every three thousand inhab- 
itants of the towns, and one for every eleven thousand and six hundred of the 
rural districts. 



434 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Some of the militant partisans of German culture formed 
an association, known as the "National German Union," 
which had for its object the unswerving • maintenance 
of unverfdlschtes Deutschtum, or "undiluted Germanism." 
This organization fought every element which was not 
strictly German : it was naturally anti-Slav; it was also anti- 
clerical, because the Catholic Church, having adherents 
among all the races in the Empire, was averse to being 
"national"; it was anti-Semitic, because it looked upon 
the Jews as foreigners incapable of assimilating German 
ideals. The members of this organization even went so far 
as to advocate the incorporation of the German parts of 
Austria with Germany; in order to be more welcome to the 
latter, they proposed to convert themselves to Protestant- 
ism. " Los von Rom /" was their cry. 

The crisis came in 1897, when Prime Minister Badeni, 
a Pole, proposed to grant full equality to the Czech and 
The lan- German languages in Bohemia. Pandemonium 
guage strug- faffee loose in the Reichsrat. The German mem- 

gle in the 

Reichsrat bers decided to show their disapproval of this 
innovation by parliamentary obstruction and by physical 
violence. One member spoke continuously for twelve hours. 
Members denounced each other in violent and even in ob- 
scene language. Inkstands were hurled at the Czechs by 
the excited Germans. At one time the platform of the as- 
sembly was stormed, the President seized and held, while 
the official papers on his desk were torn to pieces in his 
presence. The street soon took the cue from Parliament, 
and riots between the various racial factions broke out. 
These tactics and riots succeeded in their object, for the 
objectionable decrees were withdrawn the following year. 
Then it was the turn of the Czechs to become violent, and 
the scenes of the previous year were repeated. Parliamen- 
tary life became intolerable ; and the Government decided 
to rule without the Reichsrat, which it did for six years. 
During this period Parliament was virtually suspended, 
and imperial decrees took the place of legislation. 

Many patriotic Austrians were of the opinion that the 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 435 

introduction of democracy woifld tend to weaken the in- 
tense "racialism" of the various national groups Universal 
by giving them a wider horizon and, especially, suffra s e 
by bringing to the front new voters and new issues. Already, 
in 1896, a beginning had been made by introducing uni- 
versal suffrage for one sixth of the members of the Reichsrat. 
Finally, in 1907, an entirely new electoral law was passed 
which established equal, direct, universal manhood suffrage 
for the election of members to the Reichsrat. In the dis- 
tribution of seats care was taken to limit a constituency as 
much as possible to people of one race in order to avoid race 
politics. At last, democracy came to Austria, and the re- 
sult of the elections of 1907 was most striking; the two in- 
terracial parties, the Socialists and the Christian Socialists, 
made large gains, and the purely race parties, like the 
Young Czechs, lost heavily. 1 

But universal suffrage did not prove a complete solvent 
of Austria's race problems. Before long, the new electors, 
too, began to divide along national lines; racial p ers ; ste nce 
fissures were observed even among the Socialists, of racial an- 

^, n- 1 /-> 1 1 •-> • tagonisms 

The conflict between Czechs and Germans in 
Bohemia was not stilled ; on the contrary, it went on with 
ever-increasing fury. Riots by Germans were succeeded 
by riots by Czechs so that, in 1913, the Bohemian Diet was 
suspended by the Government ; for a time the country was 
governed by a commission appointed from Vienna. Many 
attempts at compromise were made, but nothing would 
satisfy either party except the supremacy of its own lan- 
guage. 

Since 1907 the chief supporters of the Government have 
been the Christian Socialists and the Poles. The advent 
of the former marked an interesting phase of The chris- 
Austrian politics, for it was an interracial party tian Social- 

ists 

organized to fight the influence of the Jews in 

economic and political life. Anti-Semitism was the main 

1 Out of 516 members, the Socialists elected 87, the Christian Socialists 96, 
the Young Czechs 82, the Poles 72, the Germans 62, the Ruthenians 30, and the 
Southern Slavs 37 ; the rest were scattered among many small groups. 



436 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

principle of the Christian Socialists, but they also advocated 
social legislation in favor of the working classes. This 
party gained enormous popularity under the leadership of 
Dr. Karl Lueger, the famous Burgomaster of Vienna, who 
dominated the politics of the capital for many years. Al- 
though at first holding aloof from the clerical parties, it 
finally joined them to make common cause against the Jews 
and the big capitalists. 

A proposal in 191 1 to increase the army encountered 
vigorous opposition in the Reichsrat which led to a dis- 
The Army solution of that body. In the elections that fol- 
Bill of 191 1 lowed, the Christian Socialists, who had favored 
the bill, suffered a crushing defeat ; and the German Liberals, 
who had opposed it, gained many seats. But the inter- 
national crises arising out of the Morocco Affair and the 
Balkan Wars 1 compelled the newly elected Parliament to 
pass a law increasing the army. 

Although the Dual Monarchy possesses rich natural re- 
sources such as coal, iron, and oil, good inland water routes 
Economic insuring cheap transportation, and an abundant 
conditions labor supply, it is still largely an agricultural 
country. 2 This is partly due to the fact that, excepting for 
the strip of Adriatic coast, Austria-Hungary is an inland 
country. Her overseas trade is small compared with her 
continental or inland trade; and more than half of the for- 
eign commerce is with Germany. Most of Austria's exports 
are agricultural products, but it also sends abroad large 
quantities of glass and earthenware, the excellent quality of 
which is well known in the markets of the world. Bohemia 
is the home of the great brewing interests, and the beer of 
Pilsen and Budweis are famous throughout the world. 

Austria, like Russia, is in need of more seaports. As we 
Expansion have already seen, she possesses but one impor- 
of Austria j-ant port, Trieste, which may at any time be 
taken from her by Italy; in such a case Austria would be- 

1 See p. 708. 

2 There are only nine cities with a population of over a hundred thousand in 
Austria-Hungary. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 437 

come almost completely landlocked. Because of this her 
foreign policy has been directed more and more toward the 
Balkans, the Drang nach Osten, with the object of advancing 
to Saloniki, the great port on the JEgean Sea. When, in 
1878, the Congress of Berlin 1 empowered Austria to oc- 
cupy and administer Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was a 
great step in that direction; and when, in 1908, the Austrian 
Foreign Minister, Von Aehrenthal, announced the formal 
annexation of these provinces, it was generally understood 
that the "advance to Saloniki" had begun, and a general 
European war was almost precipitated. 2 But the time was 
then not quite ripe. 

Hungary (1867-1914) 

The Ausgleich of 1867 gave Hungary the status of a 
quasi-independent state. The Emperor is crowned sepa- 
rately as King of Hungary with the ancient L; m ; ted 
crown of St. Stephen at the capital, Budapest, power of 
He has far less power in Hungary than in Aus- 
tria, for the parties in the Hungarian Parliament generally 
present a solid front against Austrian interference ; he there- 
fore has little influence in the appointment of the Cabinet, 
which is responsible to Parliament. 

The Hungarian Parliament consists of the Table of 
Magnates, composed in the main of the great landed aris- 
tocrats, and an elected Chamber of Deputies, _ 

, ,. i« 1 r 1 • Government 

chosen according to a complicated franchise 
law which insures the ascendancy of the Magyar race and 
of the upper classes. This franchise law contains so many 
restrictions, property, educational, and occupational, that, 
out of a population of 20,500,000, there are only about 
1,000,000 voters. 

Hungary, like Austria, contains a melange of races ruled 
by the dominant Magyars, who constitute a minority of the 
population of the country. 3 The policy of the Hungarian 

1 See p. 634. 2 See p. 645. 

3 According to the census of 1910 the population of Hungary was about 
20,500,000, divided according to speech into 10,000,000 Magyars, 5,500,000 
Slavs (2,000,000 Slovaks, 3,000,000 Croats and Serbs, and 500,000 Ruthenians), 



438 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Government toward the subject races has been one of 
Maeyariza- ruthless Magyarization. The warlike Magyar 
tion of Hun- minority is intensely nationalistic and is deter- 
mined to root out all other national influences 
irrespective of the just claims of the subject races. 1 Slavic 
and Rumanian associations and journals have been arbi- 
trarily suppressed. The Magyar language is the only one 
allowed in the public schools ; private schools, established by 
the other nationalities to maintain their languages, are 
closed on one pretext or another; old established geo- 
graphic and historic names, many of them German, have 
been changed to Magyar. In order to prevent the other 
nationalities from electing the few representatives to Par- 
liament to which they are entitled under the unfair electoral 
law, the Magyar officials resort to gerrymandering, coercion, 
ballot-box stuffing, and physical violence. Although the mass 
of Slavs and Rumanians in Hungary are subject economi- 
cally as well as politically to their Magyar lords, they have 
managed, in one way or another, to maintain their national 
sentiments, and Hungary still remains very far from being 
completely Magyarized. 

Hungarian politics since 1867 have been concerned chiefly 
with two questions, the relations with Austria and the 
Hungarian Magyar ascendancy. On the first question, 
political Hungarians have divided into those who wish to 

maintain the Compromise of 1867 on the ground 
that their country has all the independence that it wishes 
and, in addition, the military protection of Austria in case 
of war; and those who favor nationalism and wish to loosen, 
if not actually to sever, the few ties that bind the two 
countries. The periodic revision, every ten years, of the 
economic alliance has given an opportunity to these mil- 
itant nationalists to oppose it; and it has been renewed 

3,000,000 Rumanians, and 2,000,000 Germans. There are about 1,000,000 
Jews, who are included among those of Magyar speech. 

1 The only exception is that of Croatia-Slavonia which is permitted to have 
its local diet and the use of its own language. The Croats are the most warlike 
of the Slavic groups and, as will be recollected, greatly assisted Austria in re- 
conquering the Hungarians during the Revolution of 1848. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 439 

several times with the greatest difficulty. The question of 
maintaining Magyar ascendancy has consolidated all polit- 
ical opinion on matters of internal policy; hence there are 
no political parties in Hungary even in the loose Conti- 
nental meaning of that term. Political strife is, therefore, 
largely along personal lines. The great Hungarian families, 
such as the Tiszas, Andrassys, Kossuths, and Hedervarys, 
have their personal followings ; hence the struggle is mainly 
one for political offices and honors. 

From 1875 to 1890 Count Kalman Tisza was Prime 
Minister. His policies were those bequeathed by Deak, 
namely, to maintain the Ausgleich with Austria Demands of 
and the Magyar ascendancy in Hungary. There pendence 
was growing up, however, a powerful movement Part y 
known as the Independence Party, led by Francis Kossuth, 
the son of the great revolutionist, which boldly declared 
for "nationalism" as against "dualism." It demanded, 
first, the economic independence of Hungary; and secondly, 
the complete Magyarization of the Hungarian army, by 
substituting the use of Magyar for German in all commands. 

In 1897 the decennial economic agreement came to an 
end, and the Independence Party decided to oppose its 
renewal. So strong was the obstruction to the Opposition 
measure organized by Kossuth that it came very contrd of S 
near being rejected by the Hungarian Parlia- the arm y 
ment. Another struggle took place in 1903 between "dual- 
ism " and "nationalism" over the question of the language 
of command in the army. Austria had voted her share of 
the army budget, but the Independence Party insisted on 
the use of Magyar in the Hungarian army as a condition 
of its being passed by the Hungarian Parliament. This 
was refused by Austria, and Kossuth's influence was suf- 
ficient to defeat the project and to overthrow the Heder- 
vary Ministry which favored it. The matter was a serious 
one for the Dual Monarchy, and the Emperor-King stepped 
forward and declared that under no circumstances would 
he permit the unity of the Austro-Hungarian army to be 
broken and demanded that Hungary fulfill her part of the 



440 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Compromise of 1867 and vote for the budget. Count 
Stephen Tisza, the new Prime Minister, finally succeeded in 
passing the army bill, but he found the opposition of the 
Independence Party very strong and the obstructionist 
tactics of Kossuth almost unbearable. Rioting frequently 
took place in the Hungarian Parliament, and a special 
police force had to be organized to keep the members in 
order. Parliament was dissolved, but the new election was 
a complete triumph for Kossuth, as his party won a suffi- 
cient number of seats to control the House. 

This brought about the most critical situation for the 
Dual Monarchy since 1848. Should Kossuth form a Min- 
Threat of istry, backed as he was by popular support, the 
universal connection between Austria and Hungary might 

suffrage . i 

quiets op- be sundered. Austria had recourse to the same 
position remedy now as in 1848, namely, favoring the 
Slavs. The Emperor-King threatened to use his influence 
in favor of universal suffrage which would result in taking 
the control of the Hungarian Parliament from the Magyar 
and giving it to the non- Magyar races. The threat was suf- 
ficient. A Coalition Ministry was formed under Dr. Wekerle 
which decided to uphold "dualism." The army budget was 
passed and the economic alliance renewed in 1907. 

But the conflict between Hapsburg imperialism and 
Hungarian nationalism was irrepressible. It broke out 
afresh in 1910, when the question came up of renewing the 
charter of the Austro-Hungarian Bank, which unifies the 
financial relations between the two countries. The Coali- 
tion Ministry was disrupted by the Independence Party, 
which favored a separate national bank for Hungary. 
Obstruction and rioting again took place in Parliament, and 
more than once the parliamentary police had to be called in 
to eject riotous members. Finally, Count Khuen-Hedervary 
succeeded in forming a Cabinet which renewed the charter. 

Over the other question which has agitated Hungarian 
The suffrage politics, namely, universal suffrage, there has also 
question been serious conflict. In 1907-08 riotous demon- 
strations took place in the streets of the capital, Budapest, 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 441 

against the unfair electoral law. A franchise bill was intro- 
duced which made a few concessions to universal suffrage 
but contained nothing which would "compromise the 
Magyar character of the Hungarian state." In 1912 more 
rioting took place, and a similar bill was again introduced 
which was entirely unsatisfactory to the advocates of uni- 
versal suffrage. Great demonstrations against the bill were 
made by the Socialists, who threatened a general strike, but 
the bill was passed by Parliament. Universal suffrage, there- 
fore, still remains to be established in Hungary. 

As the war clouds were beginning to gather over the 
European skies, there began a rapprochement between Hun- 
gary and Austria. Even the recalcitrant Inde- F ea f ? f im- 
pendence Party realized that a war which in- pea ce be- 
volved Russia might be disastrous to Hungary, j^ e " n ^ us ~ 
which lies open to direct invasion by Russian Hungary 
armies. The bird call of Pan-Slavism, occasionally sounded 
by Russia, was heard by the Slavs of Hungary as well as 
by those in Austria and in the Balkans. Out of fear of Rus- 
sia Magyars and Austrians were now inclined to bury 
their differences in order to present a solid front u to the 
dread power of the North." 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 
1870-1914 

Government and Political Parties 

The constitution of United Italy is based on the Statuto 
of 1848 granted by King Charles Albert to Sardinia. It 
establishes in the kingdom a " representative 
monarchical government" and provides for a 
parliament to enact laws and for a king and cabinet to exe- 
cute them. The position of the King of Italy is not unlike 
that of the King of England; he, too, "reigns, but does not 
rule." Nevertheless, his influence permeates the Govern- 
ment, particularly in the conduct of foreign affairs, far more 
than does that of his fellow monarch in England. In do- 
mestic affairs the Italian King interferes but rarely, and then 
only in times of crisis; he does not veto bills and appoints 
to office only those recommended by his Ministers. The 
House of Savoy is very popular in Italy, because it is truly 
a democratic dynasty, having been freely accepted by the 
people through the popular mandate of a plebiscite. 

Parliament is composed of two Houses, the Senate and the 
Chamber of Deputies. The former is a body of great dig- 
_, .. nity but of little legislative authority, and it 

Parliament , , ^1 

seldom, if ever, opposes the wishes of the Cham- 
ber. Senators are appointed for life, generally for distin- 
guished service in various fields, such as public service, 
literature, science, and commerce. The Chamber is elected 
by popular vote for a term of five years, unless it is sooner 
dissolved by the King on the advice of the Ministry. As 
in England and France, the principle of ministerial respon- 
sibility is fully recognized and the Cabinet is appointed and 
dismissed by the Chamber. The suffrage has undergone 
important changes since unification. Until 1882 a citizen, 
in order to vote, had to be at least twenty-five years of age, 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 443 

to be able to read and write, and to have sufficient property 
on which to pay a direct annual tax of at least five dollars. 
An important change was introduced by the Suffrage Law 
of 1882 which gave the vote to all literate male citizens, 
reduced the property qualification by one half, and the age 
limit to twenty-one. This reform raised the number of 
electors from about 628,000 to about 2,050,000; but uni- 
versal suffrage was not yet established, as many of the lower 
classes were illiterate and consequently unenfranchised. In 
1 91 2 Parliament passed an electoral law which abolished all 
property qualifications and gave the vote to all literate male 
citizens over twenty-one, and to all illiterates over thirty. 
This law practically established universal suffrage, for it 
raised the number of voters from about 3,250,000 to about 
8,635,000. 

Local government in Italy is closely modeled on that of 
France. The country is divided into artificial areas called 
provinces which are presided over by prefects Local gov- 
with large powers, appointed by the central ernment 
Government. Historical units were deliberately ignored in 
the process of centralizing the administrative system in 
order to counteract the separatist tendencies which had 
kept Italy divided for so many centuries. "Italy is made. 
Let us now make Italians," was the dictum of the patriot, 
D'Azeglio. 

Political parties in Italy hardly deserve the name. Ex- 
cepting the Socialists, they are loosely organized factions 
without any definite body of principles and are largely the 
personal followings of political leaders. Generally speak- 
ing, the political groups in the Chamber may be classified 
as Constitutionalists, or Liberals, who inherit the traditions 
and ideals of Cavour; Radicals, who come mainly from the 
South and who favor advanced legislation in a vague sort 
of way; Republicans, who stoutly uphold the traditions and 
ideals of Mazzini, but who are constantly losing in numbers 
and influence and for that reason are ridiculed as "four 
nuts rattling in a bag" ; Catholics, who uphold the influence 
of the Church in public life and consequently oppose the 



444 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

tendencies of the day toward secular education, separation 
of Church and State, and divorce; and Socialists, who 
stand for the same things as their brethren the world over. 

Problems after Unification 

The unification of 1870 brought to a close an era of rev- 
olutionary violence and established internal peace as well 
~ ... as unity. But the new nation inherited many 

Conditions ■' J 

in the North of the grave problems of the past, which it has 
been bravely trying to solve ever since. By far 
the most serious problem confronting the nation was the 
South. Italy has been described as "a country in which two 
stages of civilization exist in the same state," so markedly 
different are conditions in different parts of the peninsula. 
The North is highly developed industrially, with many 
large cities inhabited by a progressive and prosperous mid- 
dle class and by a spirited and independent working class. 
In the rural districts the land is cultivated largely by 
peasant proprietors who manage to live well, though fru- 
gally. Once south of Tuscany the scene changes. Few large 
cities are to be found, and one beholds dreary, desolate 
regions that are uncultivated and only partially inhabited. 
Most of the land in the South and in Sicily is owned by large 
proprietors and cultivated by half-starved peasant tenants, 
who manage to eke out an existence with the greatest dif- 
ficulty. Centuries of bad government under the Bourbons 
had produced a contempt for the orderly administration of 
the laws, so that many became accustomed to substitute 
private vengeance for public justice. Murder and violence 
of all kinds were of common occurrence and secret criminal 
societies, like the Mafia of Sicily and the Camorra of Naples, 
gained a demoralizing influence over the inhabitants. 
Illiteracy was so common in the region that, in 1870, fully 
ninety per cent of its inhabitants were said to be unable to 
read and write. A large section of the population of the city 
of Naples, known as lazzaroni, half-criminals, half-beggars, 
who had been one of the chief mainstays of the Bourbon 
regime, were now a grave problem to the authorities. 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 445 

The new Government began energetically to remove some 
of the most flagrant evils. Brigandage was entirely sup- 
pressed, and a systematic effort was made to Suppression 
uproot the secret criminal societies. The trial of dlsorder 
and conviction, in 191 3, of the Camorra chiefs partially dis- 
rupted this terrible organization. Although considerable 
sums were spent in draining the swamps and irrigating the 
arid lands in the South, it was not sufficient to make the 
region fertile and healthy. 

In 1870 fully seventy- three per cent of all the inhabit- 
ants of the kingdom were illiterate. Italian patriots were 
ashamed of this blot on their country, and a law „,. 

. Illiteracy 

was passed in 1877 making education free and 
compulsory. But no adequate provision was made to enforce 
this law. Schools were few and badly equipped, teachers 
were poorly paid, and the school year was short. Italy was 
poor ; and the cost of maintaining the army and navy con- 
sumed so much of the public revenues that economy was 
practiced on education. The middle classes, who came into 
power after 1870, were rather averse to spending money 
on the common schools lest the lower classes become more 
dangerous through being better educated. But the vast 
areas of ignorance in Italy were becoming a matter of com- 
mon reproach. A new law was, therefore, passed in 1904 
which required every commune to provide for one or more 
public schools to be supported by local taxation supple- 
mented by grants from the Government. Provision was also 
made for educating the recruits in the army. A marked de- 
crease in illiteracy took place, so that in 1914 it had fallen 
to about twenty-five per cent. 

Heavy taxes have been laid in order to get money for 
the necessary public improvements and for the support 
of a large military establishment. The brunt of 
it is borne by those least able to do so, the peas- 
ants and the working classes, as the articles taxed are bread- 
stuffs, sugar, and cheese. Land taxes are so high that they 
amount, in some cases, to twenty-five per cent of the entire 
yield of a farm. Peasant farms are frequently seized and 



446 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

sold for non-payment of taxes. The taxes on salt and sugar 
are so high that these necessities have become almost lux- 
uries to the very poorest Italians. In spite of the heavy 
taxes, the poverty of the country, and the great outlays of 
the Government, the management of the finances was so 
bad that Italy was always on the verge of bankruptcy. 
A great reform in the finances was inaugurated in 1905-06 
by the well-known Italian statesman-financier, Luigi Luz- 
zatti, with the result that the national treasury began to 
show a surplus instead of a deficit. 

In spite of the expansion of industry, the increase in 
population was so large 1 that many were forced to seek 
^ . . homes elsewhere and a considerable number of 

Emigration .,__.,_, 

Italians sought new homes in the United States, 
Brazil, and the Argentine Republic. 2 Many also went to 
Northern Africa, to France, and to Germany. Entire dis- 
tricts in the South became depopulated through emigra- 
tion. Modern means of cheap and rapid transportation have 
made possible the transfer of large numbers of laborers 
from one country to another and, in a way, the Italian has 
become the common laborer of the industrial world. Most 
of the emigrants are from the South, though many Northern- 
ers of the middle class emigrate to South America where 
they become prosperous merchants. In some ways this vast 
emigration was beneficial to Italy for it drained on the sur- 
plus population; besides, the money sent from abroad to 
relatives and friends at home was the means of bettering 
conditions for thousands of families. Many emigrants re- 
turned to Italy bringing with them higher standards of 
comfort and of education which stimulated a demand for 
better conditions at home. 

For a time the most serious question that confronted 
Church and Italy after 1870 was the hostility between Church 
State anc j State. Parliament passed in 1871 the fa- 

mous Law of Papal Guarantees, which proposed to solve the 

1 Between 1870 and 1914 the population of Italy increased from 25,000,000 
to 35,000,000. 

2 During 1878 about 96,000 Italians emigrated; in 1906, the number rose to 
788,000; but it fell to 450,000 in 1913. 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 447 

question on Cavour's principle of a free church in a free 
state. The Pope was declared an independent sovereign 
and, as such, was entitled to receive and to send ambassa- 
dors and to conduct diplomatic affairs without any inter- 
ference from the Italian Government. His territory, how- 
ever, was limited to the district in Rome known as the 
"Leonine City," over which floated the Papal flag, and into 
which no Italian officer could enter without permission from 
the Papal authorities. As indemnity for the loss of his 
domains the Pope was voted in perpetuity an annual sum 
of $645,000; in addition, the palaces, churches, museums, 
offices, villas, and gardens in the Leonine City were to be 
exempt from taxation, and the Papal Government was to 
have free use of the Italian railway, postal, and telegraph 
systems. The Church was guaranteed full freedom of self- 
government, and the old interference by the State in church 
affairs was declared terminated. 

Pius IX, however, indignantly refused to accept the 
terms of the "sub-Alpine" Government, as he termed the 
House of Savoy, whom he regarded as the de- "ThePris- 
spoiler of "God's vicar." Parliament has regu- oner of the 
larly voted the annuity since 1871, but it has 
never been accepted ; to accept it would be to recognize the 
Kingdom of Italy as a legitimate Government, which no 
Pope since 1871 has been willing to do. Pius IX shut him- 
self up in his tiny domain and refused to leave it under any 
circumstances, regarding himself as the "Prisoner of the 
Vatican"; 1 his successors to this day have followed this 
policy and have never set foot outside the Vatican once 
they were elected Pope. An encyclical was issued, known as 
the non expedit, forbidding Italian Catholics to vote at the 
elections for Parliament or to hold office under the Crown. 

At first the situation was embarrassing and even danger- 
ous to the Italians, who feared that France or Austria might 
champion the cause of the Pope and compel them to evac- 
uate Rome. But the defeat of these two Catholic nations 

1 The Vatican is the palace of the Pope, but it is used figuratively to mean 
the Papacy. 



448 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

by Prussia and, especially, the establishment of an anti- 
clerical Republic in France, made such an event only a 
remote possibility, and the "Prisoner of the Vatican" be- 
came a polite fiction. As time went on there began a rap- 
prochement between the Vatican and the Quirinal, 1 though, 
in theory, the successors of Pius IX continued to advocate 
the restoration of their temporal power. 

Economic and Social Progress 

Italy is still largely an agricultural country, but, unfor- 
tunately, it is not the land of laughing plenty overflowing 
. . , with corn and wine that it has so often been 

Agriculture . , T , ._ . . f 

pictured. Large areas in the South consist ol 
barren rocks, bleak, deforested mountains, and unhealthy 
swamps. The Italian peasants are hard-working and frugal 
to almost an unbelievable degree, but they are too poor and 
too conservative to apply modern scientific methods to 
farming; hence the yield per acre is small compared with 
that in Germany, England, or France. Many agricultural 
cooperative societies, organized by the Socialists and the 
Catholics, have endeavored to remedy conditions by es- 
tablishing rural banks which loan money to landholders at 
low interest and by introducing better methods of tilling 
and marketing. Great attention is paid to wine culture, and 
"vine-clad hills" are a common sight in some parts of Italy; 
thus she is rapidly becoming the leading wine-producing 
country in the world. 

Although Italy lacks, the two essentials of a modern in- 
dustrial nation, coal and iron, 2 she has made astonishing 
Industry and industrial progress~th rough extensive utilization 
commerce Q f " w hite coal," or the many and rapid streams 
which have been harnessed and transformed into electrical 
energy. The revival of Mediterranean trade 3 at the end 

1 The Quirinal is the palace of the King, but it is used figuratively to mean 
the Italian Government. 

2 Italy's output of coal is insignificant, and she imports nearly all that she 
needs from England. Her iron production is small; in 1913 she produced only 
about 663,000 tons. Her greatest mineral production is that of sulphur which 
is mined in Sicily; the yield in 1913 was almost 2,700,000 tons. 

3 See p. 652. 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 449 

of the nineteenth century gave Italy an opportunity, once 
more as in the Middle Ages, to become commercially im- 
portant, and her merchant marine has expanded very 
rapidly. 1 Foreign capital, mainly German and French, be- 
gan to pour into the country, because it was attracted by 
the possibilities of Italian economic development. 

In recent years Italy has risen to be the Leading silk- 
produ^ingj iation of Europ e, and IV^ilan has displaced Lyons 
as the silk capital of the world. 2 Cotton manufacturing, 
too, has made surprising progress, and numerous cotton 
factories are now to be found in the North. 3 A protective 
tariff, adopted in 1888, led to a tariff war with France, 
with disastrous results for Italy: the South, which lost 
thereby a valuable market for her agricultural products, 
was almost ruined. But good relations were later reestab- 
lished through new commercial treaties. A growing trade 
has also developed with the Balkan States and with South 
America, but most of Italy's commerce is with the other 
European countries and with the United States. Germany 
is by far the leading nation in Italy's foreign commerce. 4 
Italian exports are mainly wheat, silk and cotton goods, 
wines, olive oil, fruits, and artis tic pr oducts in marbleTand 
alabaster; her inmarts are coaX iron, machinery, raw cot- 
ton, and raw material generally. 

The position of the industrial worker in Italy is worse 
than that of any other Western nation except Spain. Fac- 
tory laws have been passed regulating the labor Inadequate 
of women and children in industry, but these of°the " 
laws are inadequate and little provision has been workers 
made to enforce them. In 1908 a law was passed providing 
for a weekly day of rest for industrial laborers. 

With regard to social insurance Italy has made some 

1 In 1913 the total tonnage of Italy's merchant marine was 1,137,000, of 
which fully 762,000 was under steam. Many vessels are engaged in the fishing 
industry which employs about 130,000 men. 

2 Between 1876 and 1906 Italy's silk production more than quadrupled and 
it is estimated that she now produces about one fifth of the world's silk output. 

3 In 1913 the cotton exports of Italy were valued at about $40,000,000. 

4 In 1913 the total foreign trade of Italy was valued at about $1,200,000,000, 
which was almost three times that in 1870. 



450 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

progress. An accident insurance law was passed in 1898 
Social in- (amended in 1903) compelling employers to in- 
surance sure their workingmen against industrial acci- 
dents. Compensation to injured workingmen was to be given 
in proportion to the gravity of the injury, the funds for which 
were to be provided by the employers. A law of 1898 
(amended in 1906) established an old-age and invalidity 
fund for workingmen, membership in which is voluntary. 
This fund is made up of contributions by members, and 
is supplemented by subsidies from the Government. At 
the age of sixty a member receives a pension varying in 
amount according to his contributions. This is not really a 
system of old-age pensions, but a government savings bank 
in which the poor are encouraged to save for their old age. 
There is no Italian law making sickness insurance com- 
pulsory. In 1910 Parliament passed an act making ma- 
Maternity ternity insurance compulsory for working- 
insurance women, who receive a benefit of forty lire ($7.72) 
in case of childbirth. The fund is made up of contributions 
from employers, workers, and the State. 

Political History (1870-1914) 

Once unity was achieved, the vibrant idealism so char- 
acteristic of the Italians during the Risorgimento began to 
Rule of the abate. Italian politics since 1870 is a sorry tale 
Right Q f parliamentary intrigue, office-seeking, and 

political corruption. Up to 1876 the Government was in_ 
the hands of the Righ t, led byJ^in^hei±i_SeIW^and Ri- 
casoli, all from the North, who governed in the tradition 
of Cavour. Their main work was to unify Italy internally; 
they reorganized and centralized the administration, na- 
tionalized the railways, and established universal mili- 
tary service. But there was great dissatisfaction with the 
rule of the Right because of the heavy taxes they imposed 
on foodstuffs; it was also charged that they were more 
Piedmontese in sympathy than Italian and exploited the 
South for the sake of the North. 

The elections of 1876 were a triumph for the Left, which 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 451 

came into power as a result of the general demand for uni- 
versal suffrage, the abolition of the hated grist- R u i e of the 
tax on cereals, and a system of compulsory edu- Left 
cation. New political leaders were now at the helm, Ago- 
stino Depretis and Francesco Crispi, who controlled Ital- 
ian politics for almost a generation. Once in power, the 
Left failed to perform as much as it had promised. Those 
in office devoted most of their energies to keeping them- 
selves in power through corrupt bargains with the factions 
in Parliament and through debauching the electorate. The 
South was now in the saddle, and it was "solid" for whoever 
was at the head of the Government; and politics became 
scandalously corrupt. National elections were manipu- 
lated by the Ministry, which used patronage, coercion, and 
bribery to elect its supporters. Party lines in the Chamber 
broke down completely in the general scramble for office, 
and for a time there was practically no opposition to 
the Ministry except by the Socialists and Republicans. 
Nevertheless, the Left did make some effort to redeem its 
radical promises, for it enacted the education and suf- 
frage laws already described. 

Victor Emmanuel II died in 1878 and was succeeded by 
his son, Humbert I, a man of moderate abilities and color- 
less character. Depretis had been Prime Minis- _, . . 

Crispi 

ter almost continuously from 1876 to 1887 when 
he was succeeded by Crispi, a fiery Sicilian, brilliant but 
erratic, who directed political affairs during the next dec- 
ade. Crispi proved himself a master at the game of man- 
aging elections, and Italian politics became largely a mat- 
ter of personal and factional intrigue. In 1893 Italy had 
its "Panama" in the Bank of Rome scandal. An investi- 
gation of this institution revealed peculation on an immense 
scale, involving many prominent men in public life, among 
them Crispi and Giolitti. A feeling of disgust swept over 
Italy and many began to abstain from voting altogether, 
while others turned to socialism as a protest against poli- 
tical corruption. 

Serious labor troubles continually broke out during the 



452 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Crispi regime which, at times, threatened the very exist- 
Th s - .. ence of the social order. Poverty and heavy 
ian labor taxes drove many into advocating revolutionary 
social changes; socialism and anarchism found 
many adherents among the working classes, and not a few 
among the lower middle class. Unions of agricultural 
laborers were formed in Sicily which began a widespread 
agitation for better conditions. This so frightened the landed 
proprietors that they appealed to the Government to dis- 
solve the unions. Crispi filled Sicily with troops and martial 
law was declared. During 1893-94 serious labor riots took 
place on the island, which were suppressed with a savage 
fury that recalled the worst days of Bourbon rule. Hun- 
dreds were arrested and given long prison sentences; free- 
dom of speech and of association were abolished for a time, 
greatly to the indignation of the liberal elements. 1 

"Bread riots" were of frequent occurrence in the indus- 
trial centers, and the middle classes became badly fright- 
The Milan ened at what seemed to be an approaching social 
strike revolution. An insurrection of the workingmen 

broke out in Milan in 1898 which threatened to grow to the 
proportions of a revolution. Barricades were erected in the 
streets, and fighting took place between the proletariat and 
the military much in the manner of the "June days" in 
Paris. When order was restored, the Government meted 
out severe punishment to the insurgents and to those who 
had abetted them. Men were sentenced to long terms of 
imprisonment for "exaggerating the sufferings of the poor" 
and for "attacking the monarchy with subtle irony." So 
frightened were the governing classes at the growth of the 
socialist and anarchist propaganda that a proposition was 
actually considered by Parliament to suppress by statute 
any organization having for its object the subversion of the 
present social order. King Humbert, having become very 
unpopular because of his sympathy with Crispi's harsh 
methods, was assassinated in 1900 by an anarchist. He was 

1 Many of those convicted were later pardoned or released after a short 
imprisonment. 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 453 

succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III, whose demo- 
cratic spirit and expressed sympathy with the working 
classes have gained him widespread popularity. 

Giovanni Giolitti became Premier in 1903, succeeding 
Crispi as the leading figure in Italian politics. His attitude 
toward the workingmen was conciliatory, and _. . . 
he issued a statement saying that henceforth 
the Government would remain neutral in the struggle be- 
tween capital and labor. Giolitti favored the extension of 
the franchise and the enactment of social legislation as a 
means of quieting discontent. Nevertheless, an epidemic 
of strikes took place during his Ministry which greatly dis- 
turbed the economic life of the nation. In politics socialism 
was making rapid strides and every election brought an 
increase in the Socialist delegation to the Chamber. Syn- 
dicalism, too, was making headway, and the Italian work- 
ingmen were organizing "Chambers of Labor" on the model 
of those in France. 1 

In 1904 a general strike, which spread rapidly through- 
out the North, paralyzed the economic life of that indus- 
trial region. At times Italy seemed to be living Truce 
on the edge of a social volcano, so widespread church* 
and so fiery was the radical agitation. The con- and State 
servative forces in the nation, realizing their peril, began 
to harmonize their differences in order to present a solid 
front to the revolutionists. A truce was called in the war 
between Church and State ; and the non expedit was partially 
removed in 1905 by Pope Pius X. Catholics were permitted 
to vote, but only by special permission and under the guid- 
ance of the hierarchy ; and they gave their support to those 
parliamentary candidates that stood for the preservation 
of the social order. 

Partly to increase the illiterate vote which the Govern- 
ment hoped to control, and partly to pose as the champion 
of democracy, Premier Giolitti secured the pas- Elections 
sage of the great electoral reform of 19 12. Al- of I913 
though the number of those qualified to vote almost trebled, 

1 See p. 268. 



454 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

few of the newly enfranchised took part in the elections of 
191 3, which was a triumph for the Socialists and the cleri- 
cals at the expense of the conservatives. 1 In these elections 
the Catholics played a prominent part for the first time, 
and they voted for Constitutionalists when the election of 
clericals seemed hopeless. 

The year 1914 witnessed a remarkable demonstration by 
the Italian workingmen. The labor unions, having or- 
r~, , ganized a General Confederation of Labor like 

The general & 

strike of that in France, voted a general strike of all 
1914 labor in Italy as a protest against the shooting 

of a workingman by the police during a local strike. For 
forty-eight hours industrial life was virtually suspended: 
factories, shops, mines, railways, and stores were at a 
standstill, and even newspapers ceased publication. The 
authorities, terrified, hesitated to take energetic measures 
lest the general strike, which had been called as a protest, 
might develop into a social revolution. At the end of two 
days the men quietly returned to their work. 

Foreign Policies 

The unification of their country had generated a colossal 
national pride among Italians, who began to think of Italy 
Expansion as the heir and successor of Imperial Rome. To 
in Africa convert the Mediterranean into an "Italian 
lake" became the dream of Italian statesmen, notably of 
Crispi, who was chiefly responsible for the acquisition of 
the region in Eastern Africa since known as Eritrea. The 
extension of Italian influence in this region roused the hos- 
tility of the Abyssinians, and under Menelek, their King, 
they almost annihilated an Italian army of fourteen thou- 
sand men at the Battle of Adowa (1896). This defeat led 
to the fall of Crispi's Ministry and to the decline of his in- 
fluence, but it did not put an end to Italian ambitions in 
Africa. Taking advantage of the confusion engendered by 

1 Of the 508 members of the Chamber, the Socialists elected 78, a gain of 37; 
the Catholics, 35, a gain of 14; the Constitutionalists, 260, a loss of 72; the 
Radicals, 11 8, a gain of 27; and the Republicans, 17, a loss of 6. 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 455 

the revolution in Turkey, 1 Italy declared war on the latter 
in 191 1 and conquered Tripoli and Cyrenaica, which were 
organized as an Italian colony under the name of Libya. 

Italy's ambitious designs included the acquisition of 
Albania, Dalmatia, Istria, and Trieste on the eastern shore 
of the Adriatic, where many people of Italian italiair- 
origin and speech live. A resounding cry, Italia redenta 
irredenta (unredeemed Italy), was continually heard in 
Italian politics, and a party, called the Irredentists, carried 
on a lively propaganda for the redemption of the Italian- 
speaking provinces still under Austrian rule, Trieste and 
Trentino. 2 

For a time Italy sought as part of her foreign policy to 
maintain a friendly understanding with France because of 
the latter's help in bringing about her unifica- Italy j oins 
tion. But the French occupation of Tunis, on the Triple 
which Italy had set her heart, drove her into 
the arms of Germany, with whom and Austria she formed 
the Triple Alliance in 1882. 3 

Literature during the Nineteenth Century 

There was a Risorgimento in the literary as well as in 
the political history of Italy in the course of the nineteenth 
century. A consuming nationalism characterized The patri- 
all the Italian writers of that period. It was otic motive 
present in poem, novel, and drama, all of which found their 
chief inspiration in patriotism. The description of no scene, 
the delineament of no character or emotion, was complete 
without the suggestion that behind it all was Italy, past, 
present, and future. Italian authors studied the records of 
the past of their country with zealous care in order to gain 
inspiration for their work. 

Classicism was another marked characteristic of Italian 

1 See p. 643. 

2 The motto of the Irredentists is a passage from Dante's Inferno (canto ix, 
lines 1 13-14), "Pola near the Quarnaro that bounds Italy and bathes its 
shores." The Quarnaro is a gulf at the tip of Istria, a province of Austria on 
the Adriatic. 

8 See p. 685. 



456 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

writers of the period. Like those of the Renaissance they 
The passion re S ar ded classic antiquity as the prime source of 
for antiq- their culture ; to them classicism was an integral 
part of their intellectual life, not merely an 
aesthetic theory. This passion for antiquity may be as- 
cribed to a desire to seek refuge from the misery of their 
present in the glories of their past. The literature of this 
period abounds in allusions to the struggles for liberty 
among the ancients; this was an expression of the nation's 
mood, and was designed as a subtle form of propaganda 
against Austrian and Bourbon tyranny. 

The most important figure in Italian literature during 
the early nineteenth century was Alessandro Manzoni 
,, . (i 785-1 873), the greatest of Italian novelists. 

Manzoni ^ ; '^ ° 

His famous work, / Promessi Sposi {The Be- 
trothed), is a historical romance, the importance of which 
lies, not in the plot or incidents, but in the penetrating 
study of a host of characters that have since become house- 
hold names in Italy. Manzoni was a poet as well as a novel- 
ist, and his ode on the death of Napoleon, Cinque Maggio 
{May Fifth), met with universal admiration when it ap- 
peared. 

A common type among Italian writers is the scholar- 
poet, among whom Giacomo Leopardi (1 798-1 837) is an 

example. Leopardi was greatly interested in the 

classics, many of which he edited and translated ; 
but his real significance lies in his poetry. A spirit of deep 
and gloomy pessimism pervades nearly all of his work. He 
sees eternal warfare everywhere. The great enemy of man 
is nature, to whose ravages everything sooner or later suc- 
cumbs. In his odes to Italy and to Dante, Leopardi rises 
to a noble height of patriotic fervor; in melodious verse he 
pictures his beloved Italy awakened from her sleep of cen- 
turies only to find herself weak and despised. 

Giosue Carducci (1835-1907) was, in the opinion of many 
r , . competent critics, the greatest Italian poet since 

Tasso. Like Leopardi, he was a scholar as well 
as a poet. He was actively engaged as a teacher and critic 



THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 457 

of literature nearly all his life. Carducci found his highest 
ideals in ancient paganism, and he continually attacks 
Christianity as the enemy of liberty and happiness. His 
Ode to Satan created a sensation, for he pictured Satan, not 
as the traditional devil at war with all that is good, but as 
the spirit of liberty and progress continually in revolt against 
the chains of dogma; Satan is reason defying authority as 
represented by the Church. Carducci believed that the 
Church had corrupted Italy whose true spirit was pagan, 
which revived after 1870 when Italy became her ancient 
self once more. He was above all else a poet of United 
Italy whose aspirations he sang in enthusiastic verse, and 
whose heroes, Garibaldi and Mazzini, he rapturously glori- 
fied. In the Odi barbare (Barbaric Odes) Carducci endeav- 
ored to create a new type of poetry which would combine 
the grandeur of the Latin with the grace of the Italian 
meters. 

In the novels of Antonio Fogazzaro (1 842-1 911) are dis- 
cussed the problems confronting Italy after the unifica- 
tion. Fogazzaro was a liberal Catholic of the 
type known as "modernists," who believed that 
the Church had within her the true spirit of Christianity, 
and that, once she ceased to interest herself in worldly 
affairs, she would again spiritually conquer the world as in 
the days of the early Christian martyrs. He makes this the 
theme of a series of novels, the most famous of which is 
II Santo (The Saint), which tells the story of a profligate 
turned saint. Like St. Francis of Assisi, the hero goes among 
the poor and lowly doing deeds of kindness and preaching 
the Gospel of Christ. He is shocked by the worldliness 
of the priests and appeals to the Pope to reform the Church, 
with the result that he is persecuted by the clergy. The 
book was placed on the " Index" 1 by the authorities of the 
Catholic Church, which caused general comment through- 
out the world. 

Few writers in recent times have attracted so much sen- 
sational attention asGabriele d'Annunzio, novelist and poet. 
1 A list of books the reading of which is prohibited to Catholics. 



458 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

D'Annunzio is a fervent believer in the ideal that every 
individual should strive to attain beauty above 

D'Annunzio ,,,,,, i ,i i 

all else and at all costs; and the surest road 
to this is through the pleasure of the senses. Sensual pas- 
sion is the theme of nearly all his novels; in many of them 
adultery, incest, and murder are described in the most vivid 
manner. D'Annunzio has wonderful verbal felicity as well 
as a highly colored imagination; he conjures up vibrant 
musical words that are fitted into sonorous sentences to 
describe characters whose vehement passions are made to 
triumph over social and moral ideals. His most famous 
novels are II Trionfo delta Morte {The Triumph of Death) 
and Fuoco {Flame). D'Annunzio achieved notable success 
as a poet of nature also, and his Laudi, a book of poems, 
aroused great enthusiasm in Italy, where he is placed by the 
side of Carducci as a patriotic poet. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE IBERIAN PENINSULA 

Restoration in Spain 

Since the days of the Catholic Reformation in the six- 
teenth century, Spain has made little contribution to the 
social, political, or cultural life of Europe; isolation of 
nor has she given birth to any prominent per- Spain 
sonality whose influence has been felt beyond her own 
borders. Spaniards have lived far from the main currents 
of European life, proud of their isolation and of their 
splendid past, and seeming to care little whether their 
country made any progress or not. The Liberal movement 
which took place in Spain during the nineteenth century 
was merely a faint or dying echo of revolutionary currents 
in France. 

At the close of the seventeenth century, the era of her 
great power, Spain fell into a death-like sleep from which 
even the French Revolution failed to rouse her. Constitution 
She awoke only when the Napoleonic invasion of l812 
threatened her national integrity, and a popular uprising 
drove the French from the country. During this period of 
unsettled conditions, a small group of middle class Liberals 
took advantage of the situation to call together a Cortes, 
or Parliament, which, in 1812, adopted a democratic con- 
stitution that decreed the sovereignty of the people, the 
equality of all before the law, and religious freedom. This 
constitution of 1812 became the Magna Charta of Span- 
ish liberalism; its principles were constantly appealed to 
in the struggle for democracy which followed during the 
nineteenth century. 

In 1814 the Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty, 
in the person of King Ferdinand VII, was restored amid 
popular acclaim. Like most Bourbons, Ferdinand had 
neither learned nor forgotten anything; he was, moreover, 



460 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cruel, treacherous, unscrupulous, and incompetent. Upon 
r, ,• his restoration he immediately set to work to 

Reaction un- J 

der Ferdi- abolish the reforms that had been adopted. 
The constitution of 1812 was -suppressed; the 
privileges of the nobles and clergy were restored; the Jesuits 
were given control of education; and the Inquisition was 
reestablished. As Ferdinand's rule was scandalously cor- 
rupt as well as incompetent, Spain was continually on the 
brink of bankruptcy. The King gathered about him a 
group of favorites known as the camarilla, or "kitchen 
cabinet," who conducted the Government merely to suit 
their personal interests and whims. Freedom of speech 
and of association were completely suppressed, and thou- 
sands of Liberals were driven out of the country or sent to 
prison. 

The Revolutionary Movement 

A powerful opposition to absolutism grew up among the 

Spanish Liberals, who organized secret societies, like the 

Carbonari and Freemasons, that carried on a 

The juntas . . • , t-> 1 1 

vigorous agitation against Bourbon despotism 
and its ally, the Catholic Church. Revolutionary commit- 
tees, called juntas, were active in directing the forces of 
disaffection. While most of the Liberals came from the 
middle class, not a few came from the army, which was dis- 
contented because of irregular and insufficient pay. To 
keep the masses in order the Bourbons depended more on 
the priests than on the soldiers; hence they showered favors 
on the Church, but neglected the army. This so irritated 
the officers that many of them joined the Carbonari. 

A widespread uprising broke out in 1820, and a demand 
was made for the restoration of the constitution of 18 12. 
The Revolu- Ferdinand, realizing the strength of the move- 
tion of 1820 men t, promised to second the demand for popu- 
lar government. "Let us advance frankly," he once de- 
clared, "myself leading the way, along the constitutional 
path." A Parliament was convened, which was composed 
almost entirely of Liberals. It suppressed the Inquisition 



THE IBERIAN PENINSULA 461 

and many of the religious orders, decreed freedom of speech 
and of association, and restored the constitution of 18 12. 
The King was obliged to assent to these laws because he 
was practically a prisoner in the hands of Parliament. He 
was, however, secretly sending appeals for help to the other 
despots of Europe. The clergy on their part were actively 
organizing a counter-revolution among the peasantry, who 
were exhorted to rescue the ''captive King" from the hands 
of the free-thinking Liberals. 

Although Ferdinand's rule had been condemned by Eu- 
rope, it was generally felt that the evil example of a suc- 
cessful uprising against a king must be avoided Suppression 
at all costs. The new Government was, there- °[ tl ? e r( r v " 

olution by , 

fore, not recognized by the European powers, foreign 
which, with the exception of England, withdrew armies 
their ambassadors from Spain. Tsar Alexander I enthusi- 
astically volunteered to lead a Russian army across Europe 
to suppress the Spanish revolution. The Congress of the 
Powers at Verona (1822) voted in favor of intervening in 
Spain, and France was charged with the duty of carrying out 
this mandate. In 1823 a French army crossed the Pyrenees 
to restore absolutism. The Spaniards, who in the days of 
Napoleon had fought the French armies that came to liber- 
ate them from the ancien regime, now welcomed the French 
armies that came to enslave them. The Liberals, being a 
small minority, could offer little resistance and Ferdinand 
was "liberated" and restored to absolute power. The 
revenge that he took shocked all Europe. Thousands of 
the best people in Spain were summarily executed or im- 
prisoned. The constitution of 1820 was abolished, and all 
the acts of Parliament were declared null and void. Politi- 
cal and religious inquisitions, called "juntas of purifica- 
tion," were organized to ferret out Liberals, and many of 
them were exiled or hounded to death. For a time, the uni- 
versities were closed because they were suspected of being 
friendly to liberalism. 

During the rebellion the South American colonies had 
also revolted, and had established themselves as republics. 



462 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

It was the determination of the Holy Alliance, as the union 
L of th °^ European despots was popularly known, to 
South Amer- suppress the rebellion in the colonies as they 
had suppressed the one in Spain. But opposition 
to this plan came from an unexpected quarter, the United 
States, which was opposed to the extension of the Met- 
ternich system to the New World. On December 2, 1823, 
President James Monroe issued a paper which became fa- 
mous as the Monroe Doctrine, in which he declared that the 
intervention of the Allied Powers in South America would 
be considered as a "manifestation of an unfriendly dis- 
position to the United States." England came to the sup- 
port of America, and the Holy Alliance decided to aban- 
don its plans of subduing the South American Republics. 

The Dynastic Struggle 

Ferdinand VII died in 1833 leaving a little daughter, 
Isabella. He had, before dying, modified the Salic law 
Carlistsand which made women ineligible for the throne, 
Chnstmos w ith foe expectation that Isabella would suc- 
ceed him when she reached her majority. Upon his death 
her mother, Christina, was declared Regent during Isa- 
bella's infancy. But Don Carlos, the brother of the late 
King, announced himself the rightful heir to the throne 
on the ground that the dynastic laws of the Bourbons ad- 
mitted of no female succession. A dynastic war, lasting 
a decade, followed between the Carlists, or the supporters 
of Don Carlos, and the Christinos, or the supporters of the 
Regent. To the standard of the pretender nocked the re- 
actionaries, the clericals, and the backward inhabitants of 
the mountain districts. To the support of Christina came 
the Liberals, who were attracted by promises of a consti- 
tutional regime. 

In 1834 Christina granted a moderate constitution some- 
what like the charte granted by King Louis XVIII of France. 
Regency of Three years later the constitution was made 
Christina more democratic by giving the Cortes more 
power in the Government. As the Church leaned to the side 



THE IBERIAN PENINSULA 463 

of the Carlists, Parliament became anti-clerical and sup- 
pressed some of the religious orders. A semi-Liberal named 
Mendizrabel, who was appointed Prime Minister in 1835, 
showed great energy and ability in suppressing the Carlists 
and reorganizing the finances of the kingdom. When order 
was finally restored, Christina became reactionary. She 
was thereupon forced to resign her regency, and General 
Espartero was appointed in her place. 

In 1843 the young Queen was crowned as Isabella II. Her 
long reign was disgraced by scandal, incompetency, and cor- 
ruption. To satisfy her whims the Queen fre- Queen Isa- 
quently tried to govern in defiance of the con- bella 
stitution. This aroused general dissatisfaction, and a Re- 
publican party made its appearance, which gained many 
adherents in the large cities. 

A general uprising took place in 1868, and Isabella was 
forced to flee. A provisional government was then estab- 
lished under General Prim, who, for a short time, Establish- 
was virtually a dictator. No regular govern- ment of a 
ment existed in Spain for seven years, and at times 
the country verged upon anarchy. Many candidates for the 
throne, including the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, 1 
were considered. Finally, in November, 1870, Prince Ama- 
deo, second son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, was 
chosen King of Spain. When Amadeo arrived he found 
opposition on all sides. The Carlists rose in rebellion; the 
partisans of Alphonso, son of Isabella, began plotting; the 
Republicans were, of course, dissatisfied; and the most 
powerful element, the Catholic clergy, was bitterly op- 
posed to the son of the King who had destroyed the tem- 
poral power of the Pope. After reigning for about two years, 
King Amadeo abdicated in disgust. A Republic was pro- 
claimed in 1873, but this led to still greater opposition. 
The country seethed with revolt, while a number of presi- 
dential dictators followed one another in rapid succession. 
The most famous President was Emilio Castelar, an ad- 
vanced Liberal and a remarkable orator, who attracted 

1 See p. 188. 



464 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

world-wide attention because of his high character and 
eloquent speeches. But the Spanish Republic was too un- 
popular to last. In 1875 the Bourbon monarchy was re- 
stored in the person of King Alphonso XII. 

The new King called to his side two able men* who guided 
and advised him throughout his reign. One was Marshal 
Campos and Campos, who completely suppressed the Carlist 
Canovas insurgents and the rebellion in Cuba which had 
been going on for ten years; the other was Canovas del Cas- 
tillo who, as Prime Minister, virtually ruled the country 
from 1875 to 1885. Canovas, an able and energetic conserv- 
ative statesman, reorganized the finances and administra- 
tion of the Government and suppressed disaffection, par- 
ticularly among the radical elements, with a stern hand. 

A new constitution was proclaimed in 1876 which organ- 
ized Spain as a limited monarchy. A Parliament, called 
Constitution the Cortes, was established consisting of two 
of 1876 Houses: a Senate composed mainly of high offi- 

cials and representatives of educational, religious, and 
commercial bodies, and a Chamber of Deputies, which, 
since 1890, has been elected by practically universal suf- 
frage. The executive power was entrusted to a cabinet 
responsible to the Chamber; but the King still exercised 
considerable influence and authority in directing the poli- 
cies of the nation. 

Political History of Spain (1885-19 14) 

Alphonso died in 1885. His posthumous son succeeded him 
in 1902 as Alphonso XIII. During his minority his mother, 
"Rotativ- an Austrian archduchess named Maria Chris- 
lsm " tina,had ruled as Regent. The uncertainties aris- 

ing from the succession to the throne had been responsible 
for many of the troubles in the past. In order to avoid a 
repetition of these evils, Canovas, the leader of the Conserv- 
atives, struck hands with Sagasta, the leader of the Liber- 
als, and reached an understanding according to which both 
parties rotated in office by managing the elections through 
coercion and corruption. Canovas graciously permitted 



THE IBERIAN PENINSULA 465 

Sagasta to become Prime Minister several times, thus giving 
the Liberals a chance at the spoils of office. This system of 
"rotativism" produced mimic political strife, and popular 
government, though complete in its mechanism, became 
farcical. Naturally, a general contempt for parliamentary 
government was engendered, leading to the growth of 
radical doctrines such as republicanism, socialism, and 
anarchism. In 1897 Canovas was assassinated by an an- 
archist as a protest against this regime. 

The most important event in the recent history of Spain 
was the Spanish-American War. The breaking away of 
South America brought little change in the colo- spanigh- 
nial policy of Spain, which continued to be that American 
prevalent in the eighteenth century, namely, that 
the colonies existed to be exploited in the interest of the 
mother country. In addition, Spanish rule had become a 
by-word of corruption, tyranny, and incompetence, and 
uprisings took place in Cuba and in the Philippines. After 
ten years of rebellion the Cubans had submitted in 1878 
on promises of reform; but these promises were not kept 
and the Cubans rose once more in 1895. The suppression 
of this rebellion was entrusted to General Weyler, whose 
savage methods aroused great indignation in the United 
States. War followed between Spain and America (1898), 
in which the former was badly defeated. Spain was com- 
pelled to cede the Philippine Islands and Puerto Rico to 
the United States, with compensation for the former, and 
to acknowledge the independence of Cuba. She was now 
completely shorn of her once world-wide colonial empire. 

Alphonso XIII became very popular because of his demo- 
cratic attitude and liberal views. His marriage to a grand- 
daughter of Queen Victoria greatly pleased the church and 
Liberals, who regarded the introduction of Eng- State 
lish influence as a good augury. A question arose in the 
course of his reign concerning the relations between Church 
and State. Although almost unanimously Catholic in re- 
ligion, the Spanish people have shown signs of hostility to 
the Church to which they have given such unswerving 



466 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

devotion for so many centuries. This change of attitude was 
due to several causes. The radical elements, republicans, 
socialists, and anarchists, blamed the Church for all the 
evils that afflicted Spain. The increasing number'of religious 
orders, whose wealth escaped taxation, also aroused their 
hostility. As many of the orders were engaged in business 
enterprises, the middle classes complained bitterly of the 
competition of the monks. It needed but a tragedy to pro- 
duce an outburst of fury against the Church. In 1909 a dis- 
turbance among the workingmen of Barcelona took place 
as a protest against conscripting men to fight the tribes in 
Morocco who had risen against Spanish rule. For three days 
terror reigned in the city. After many encounters between 
the military and the workingmen, the uprising was finally 
put down. Francisco Ferrer, well known as an anti-clerical 
educator and founder of the Modern School, a semi-an- 
archistic institution for children, was accused of being the 
chief instigator of the rebellion. He was seized and shot 
after a brief trial by a court-martial. The execution of Ferrer 
led to world-wide demonstrations, not only against the Span- 
ish Government, but also against the Catholic Church in 
Spain, which was accused of being responsible for his death. 

In 1910, the advanced Liberal, Canalejas, became Prime 
Minister, pledged to an anti-clerical program. An act, known 
Anti-ckri- as t ^ le " Padlock Law," was passed by the Cortes 
cal legisla- forbidding the establishment of any more re- 
ligious houses without the consent of the Gov- 
ernment. Taxes were laid on the industrial enterprises 
conducted by the orders. Public worship of non-Catholic 
religious bodies was now expressly permitted : hitherto, Pro- 
testants and Jews had been forbidden to make public 
announcement of their services. Premier Canalejas also 
declared himself in favor of secular education and of sep- 
aration of Church and State; but Catholicism in Spain 
proved strong enough to prevent the adoption of these 
measures. 

Spain, in 191 4, contained a population of about twenty 
million, most of whom were engaged in agriculture. Much 



THE IBERIAN PENINSULA 467 

less than half of the land is fit for cultivation. Enor- 
mous mountain ranges traverse the country, Economic 
which, in many parts, is still in a state of semi- condltlon 
savagery. The rainfall in many places is light, and the Gov- 
ernment has not been sufficiently active in building irriga- 
tion works. Most of the arable land is in the hands of large 
proprietors and is cultivated by peasants who barely manage 
to make both ends meet. Thousands of them emigrate annu- 
ally, mainly to South America. Old-fashioned methods of 
farming, including the medieval three-field system, are still 
in vogue. 

The most important exports of Spain are wine, cork, and 
olive oil. Barcelona and Bilboa are the only manufac- 
turing centers, and they contain a large number of working- 
men who are poorly paid and miserably housed. 

Illiteracy in Spain is widely existent in spite of a law, 
passed in 1857, which makes education compulsory; the 
Government has neither enforced the law nor provided the 
money with which to build schools. In 19 10 fully sixty- 
three per cent of the population could neither read nor write. 

Portugal 

Portugal, like Spain, had at one time played a great role 
in the affairs of the world. During the period of discovery, 
in the sixteenth century, Portuguese mariners decline and 
had sailed to distant seas, circumnavigated the fall of Por- 
globe, and settled in the New World and in uga 
Africa. This tiny kingdom found herself in possession of 
a vast colonial empire ; but the rivalry, first of Holland, then 
of France, and lastly of England was too much for Portugal. 
In 1807 she sank to the condition of a dependency of Na- 
poleon. The reigning dynasty, the House of Braganza, fled 
to Brazil, where it remained after the French armies had 
been driven out of Portugal by the English. A regency was 
consequently established by the English forces in Portugal, 
who, however, were the real rulers of the country, greatly 
to the chagrin of patriotic Portuguese. 

In 1820 a revolution led by the army overthrew the re- 



468 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

gency and a constitution was adopted similar to the Spanish 
Brazil and constitution of 1 8 12. A Cortes was called which 
Portugal abolished the Inquisition and suppressed many 
of the religious orders, because, as in Spain, they were re- 
garded as the main supports of the ancien regime. King 
John VI, then reigning in Brazil, was requested to return 
and govern as a constitutional monarch. He accepted the 
invitation, relinquishing the government of Brazil to his 
eldest son, Dom Pedro. But Brazil, incensed at the King's 
leaving, declared herself independent of Portugal and, in 
1822, set herself up as an Empire with Dom Pedro as Em- 
peror; in 1889, a revolution overturned the Empire and 
established the Brazilian Republic. 

In Portugal John promptly modified the constitution in 
the interest of absolutism. A reactionary movement, led 
Dictator- D ^ Dom Miguel, the younger son of John, 
ship of Dom brought on a civil war which raged for several 
years. In 1826 King John died, and Emperor 
Pedro of Brazil was declared King of Portugal; but the 
latter refused to leave Brazil and gave the Portuguese crown 
to his daughter Maria, a little girl of seven, her uncle, Dom 
Miguel, acting as Regent during her minority. Miguel 
seized the reins of government and, supported by the reac- 
tionaries and clericals, abolished what was left of the con- 
stitution of 1820. He was virtually dictator of Portugal for 
almost a decade, and he governed in the spirit of the Con- 
gress of Vienna, gaining the admiration of the European 
despots because of his harsh and tyrannical policy. An 
uprising in 1834 finally drove Miguel from power, and 
Maria became Queen. A moderate constitution was again 
adopted and for a generation there was quiet in Portugal. 

Peace meant that the various factions had composed 
their differences and were now agreed on dividing the spoils 
" Rotativ- of office among them. The two parties, the Re- 
ism' - generators, or Conservatives, and the Progres- 

sives, or Liberals, adopted the Spanish practice of "rota- 
tivism"; one party would succeed the other in the control 
of the Government, and the elections were "made" to suit 



THE IBERIAN PENINSULA 469 

this prearranged game of "ins" and "outs" by coercing and 
bribing the electorate. This farcical parliamentary rule 
naturally led to the growth of a republican party which 
conducted an active and well-organized propaganda, par- 
ticularly in the army and navy. The Portuguese Kings, 
like those of Spain, relied more on the priests than on the 
soldiers to control the masses, and consequently they failed 
to provide properly for the needs of the soldiers and sailors. 
Many, if not most, of the latter naturally became bitterly 
discontented with the monarchical regime. 

King Carlos, who ascended the throne in 1889, gained 
unenviable notoriety as an extravagant and licentious man. 
With the connivance of the officials, the King was The Re ub _ 
permitted to overdraw his allowance from the lican propa- 
national treasury, and it was rumored that he §an 
was in the hands of financiers who were bleeding the coun- 
try through him. Discontent was rife, especially in the 
cities, and sporadic revolts, strikes, and conspiracies were 
constantly taking place. The intellectual classes took an 
active part in the republican propaganda, and the Uni- 
versity of Coimbra, the leading educational institution in 
the country, became a hotbed of radicalism. Secret socie- 
ties, like the Carbonari and the Freemasons, took a leading 
part in the growing opposition to the monarchy. It was gen- 
erally felt that Portugal was on the brink of a revolution. 

In 1906 King Carlos resolved on a new move. He ap- 
pointed Joao Franco Prime Minister with power to govern 
in defiance of the Cortes. Franco was an honest Dictator- 
and able man and believed that a policy of ship of 
benevolent despotism was the only means of 
ridding Portugal of corrupt politicians and conspiring revo- 
lutionists. Laws were enacted without the consent of Parlia- 
ment; the press was gagged; the slightest manifestation of 
opposition to the Government was severely punished; the 
jails were rilled with political prisoners. This reign of ad- 
ministrative terror was answered by a widespread con- 
spiracy to overturn the entire monarchical regime. On 
February I; 1908, whilst the royal family were driving 



470 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

through the streets of Lisbon, two men coolly leveled car- 
bines at the royal carriage and killed the King and the 
Crown Prince. 

The younger son of the late monarch succeeded as 
Manuel II. Franco's regime came to an end, and the Prime 

Minister was forced to flee from the country. 
Manuel II _^ .... 

But neither the new King nor the politicians 
had learned much from the recent tragedy. Manuel fol- 
lowed closely in his father's footsteps; he was notoriously 
extravagant and immoral. The politicians resumed their 
old ways, and "rotativism" once more became the prac- 
tice. 

The opposition now determined to change the govern- 
ment as well as the governors, and definite plans were made 
Revolution by the secret societies to abolish the monarchy 
of 1910 anc i to es tablish a republic. In 1910 a sudden 

and exceedingly well-planned uprising took place in Lisbon. 
The warships in the harbor raised the Republican colors 
and began to shell the royal palace. The soldiers mutinied 
and, aided by street mobs, took possession of the city. King 
Manuel fled to England. A provisional government was 
hastily organized under the leadership of a distinguished 
scholar, Dr. Theophile Braga, which forever proscribed 
the House of Braganza and decreed the establishment of 
the Republic of Portugal. A constitution was later adopted 
which abolished all hereditary titles and privileges, granted 
full freedom of speech and association and complete re- 
ligious equality. A Cortes was organized, composed of a 
Senate, elected by the local councils, and a Chamber of 
Deputies, elected by universal suffrage. The head of the 
Government was to be a President elected for a term of four 
years by a joint session of both Houses. His powers were 
greatly limited, as executive authority was entrusted to 
a cabinet responsible to the Chamber. The first President, 
Dr. Manuel Arriaga, was chosen in 191 1. 

Almost the first act of the new Republic was to make war 
on the Catholic Church. Many of the Republicans were 
strongly anti-clerical, having derived their inspiration from 



THE IBERIAN PENINSULA 471 

the enemies of the Church in France. They regarded the 
Church as the backbone of royalism and there- separation 
fore determined to undermine her influence in of Church 

., , rr^i f ■ 1 and State 

every way possible. 1 he religious orders were 
expelled and their property seized by the Government. 
A law separating Church and State, modeled on that of 
France, 1 was passed which called forth a vigorous protest 
from Pope Pius X, who pronounced it null and void. Bish- 
ops and parish priests who refused to submit to the Sepa- 
ration Law were severely punished. 

The Republic then planned to remove the reproach of 
illiteracy, which was estimated as high as seventy per cent 
of the population. A school law was passed in p ro bi ems f 
191 1 providing for compulsory, free, secular the Repub- 
education. Although the revolution was accom- 
plished with remarkable ease, the Republic was soon faced 
with great difficulties. Royalist plots were continually taking 
place, and discontent was manifested by the workingmen 
of Lisbon, some of whom had expected that a republic 
would decree their economic emancipation. In 1912 a gen- 
eral strike took place in Lisbon which was so serious that 
martial law had to be declared in order to preserve order. 

Portugal still has large colonial possessions, in all about 
eight hundred thousand square miles. She owns the Cape 
Verde Islands, part of Guinea, various ports in Asia, and 
large slices of Africa. 2 Most of the Portuguese people, who 
number about 5,500,000, are engaged in agriculture which, 
like that of Spain, is in a low state and largely for the same 
reasons. 

1 See p. 261. 2 See p. 680. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS 
Denmark 

The three Scandinavian nations, Denmark, Sweden, 
and Norway, were united under the hegemony of the first 
Union of ^ or more than a century after the Union of 
Norway and Kalmar in 1397. Although similar in origin, 
traditions, language, and culture, there are 
enough differences among the Danes, Swedes, and Nor- 
wegians to cause them to desire independence of one an- 
other. In 1524 Sweden seceded from the Union, but Norway 
remained attached to Denmark until the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Denmark had sided with Napoleon, but Sweden had 
joined the Allies to oppose him. To punish the one and 
reward the other, Norway was taken from Denmark and 
incorporated with Sweden in 1814 by the treaty of Kiel. 

The general European peace which followed Waterloo 
found Denmark in a weakened state. Her navy had been 
Th . seized by the English and Copenhagen bom- 

tution of barded; her commerce was almost entirely gone; 
1 49 and Norway had been taken away. For an entire 

generation after peace was established, the Danes were 
so busily engaged in recuperating from their losses that 
little attention was paid to political reform. The govern- 
ment was that of an absolute monarchy, but the Danish 
Kings ruled in a more liberal spirit than the monarchs else- 
where in Europe. The Revolutionary movements of 1830 
and 1848, nevertheless, found an echo in Denmark; and in 
1849 King Frederick VII, in response to a widespread and 
growing liberalism, granted a constitution establishing a 
Rigsdag, or Parliament. The members of the Landsthing, 
or Senate, were to be appointed by the King, and the mem- 
bers of the Folkething, or Assembly, were to be elected by 



THE SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS 473 

citizens who possessed property. The King was to continue 
to exercise full executive power. 

By far the most serious problem that faced Denmark 
was that affecting the duchies, Schleswig-Holstein, which 
had come to her many centuries before through Loss of 
dynastic affiliations. In Holstein the population Schleswig- 
was largely German; in Schleswig it was both 
Danish and German. There had arisen a strong nationalist 
movement among the Germans in the duchies, who wished 
to separate themselves from Denmark and to form a state 
in the German Confederation. In opposition to them the 
patriotic Danes formed a powerful party called the Eider 
Danes, which demanded the complete incorporation with 
Denmark of the territory of the Eider River, which included 
Schleswig. Early in the reign of Christian IX (1 863-1 906), 
Prussia and Austria intervened in favor of the Germans 
in Schleswig-Holstein, and the War of 1864 which followed 
resulted in the annexation of the duchies by Prussia. 1 Natu- 
rally the Danes felt bitterly resentful toward Prussia for the 
dismemberment of Denmark, and they entertained hopes 
that some day the lost provinces would be recovered. 

An important revision of the constitution was made in 
1866. Four fifths of the Senate was made elective, and the 
suffrage for the lower House was extended. The Establish- 
King's authority was still considerable, as the democratic 
Ministry remained responsible to him. Although government 
the demand for complete democracy was incessant and so- 
cialism grew rapidly, it was only after a long struggle that 
Christian IX was compelled in 1901 to relinquish his 
authority over the Ministry, which was made responsible 
to the Rigsdag. Since then Danish democracy has made 
rapid progress. In 1914 all the members of the Senate 
were made elective; and in the following year the property 
qualification for voting for the lower House was abolished, 
with full suffrage granted to women. 

As Denmark possesses no coal and iron, it has very little 
industrial life; agriculture is, therefore, the pursuit of the 

1 For further details see pp. 179 ff. 



474 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

large majority of her three million inhabitants. The dairy 
~ , products of Denmark are famous, and quantities 

Denmark an ^ ^ 

agricultural of butter, cheese, and eggs are exported an- 
nually to England and Germany. The Danish 
peasants and dairymen have organized extensive coopera- 
tive societies which lend money to the members at low inter- 
est, market their produce, and put at their service the best 
machinery. 

What now remains of a once great Danish empire are 
the large islands of Greenland and Iceland, and the Faroe 
Islands. 1 Greenland and Iceland enjoy complete local au- 
tonomy. 

Sweden and Norway 

The Napoleonic wars gave a new dynasty to Sweden in the 

person of Marshal Bernadotte. In 1809 Gustavus IV, the 

last of the ancient Swedish dynasty of Vasa, 

Bernadotte ... J . J j 

was deposed because of his erratic conduct, and 
a temporary king, Charles XIII, was elected in his place. 
In 1 810, Charles adopted the Frenchman, Bernadotte, one 
of Napoleon's marshals, as the Crown Prince, who in 181 8 
ascended the Swedish throne as Charles XIV. 

As we have already seen, the Treaty of Kiel provided 
for the union of Norway and Sweden. But the Norwe- 
The Riksakt gians were opposed to the arrangement made 
of 1 815 f or th em D y th e diplomats of Europe and rose in 

rebellion against Sweden. An agreement, known as the 
Riksakt of 1 81 5, was finally reached by the two countries. 
It provided for a personal union through the King, but each 
country was to have its own parliament, courts, and admin- 
istration. Common interests, like foreign affairs, tariffs, and 
the army, were to be managed by a common Ministry. 

The union thus formed was not a happy one. Different 
conditions among the people in each kingdom made for 
different ideals among the Norwegians and the Swedes 
in spite of their common racial origin. Norway was inhab- 

1 The Danish West Indies, a group of small islands, were sold to the United 
States in 19 17 for $25,000,000; they were renamed the Virgin Islands. 



THE SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS 475 

ited by an independent population of fishermen, sailors, 
merchants, and peasant proprietors. By the con- Different 
stitution of Eidsvold (1814), she had established %?£&** 
a fairly democratic government through a pop- country 
ularly elected Storthing, or parliament. Sweden, on the 
contrary, was a highly aristocratic country, a land of large 
landed proprietors and a dependent peasantry. Her gov- 
ernment was autocratic, for the King's power was scarcely 
checked by the Diet of four estates, nobility, clergy, bur- 
ghers, and peasants, which, as in the Middle Ages, had 
merely power to petition and to advise the monarch. 

Charles XIV, although a Frenchman, became very popu- 
lar in Sweden, because, through him, she had been in- 
demnified for the loss of Finland to Russia by The const ;. 
the annexation of Norway. In Sweden he te- tution of 
naciously held to the principles of absolute mon- 
archy, although in Norway he was obliged to observe the 
constitution. In 1866 King Charles XV granted a consti- 
tution, and Sweden became a constitutional monarchy. The 
Diet was abolished and a parliament, called the Riksdag, 
was organized. It was composed of two Houses, the upper 
elected by local bodies, and the lower by citizens who pos- 
sessed property. The King continued to exercise full execu- 
tive authority. Sweden's transition to constitutional mon- 
archy was mainly the work of the distinguished statesman, 
Baron de Geer, on whose advice the King greatly relied. 

During the reign of Oscar II (1 872-1 907), the relations be- 
tween Norway and Sweden, always strained, finally reached 
the breaking point. A new national revival took Quarrels be- 
place in Norway, one of the leaders being ^y 6 "^ 01 "" 
the writer-politician, Bjornson. Quarrels, some Sweden 
petty and some serious, were continually breaking out. One 
was over the day which should be celebrated as the national 
holiday. Another was over the character of the Norwegian 
flag; Norway demanded a "pure flag," one without any 
symbol of her union with Sweden. A far greater question 
arose in connection with the consular service. Norway's 
commerce and merchant marine were rapidly expanding, and 



476 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

this made independence all the more desirable. As most of 
the consuls appointed by the Government were Swedes, 
Norway demanded an independent consular service. The 
Storthing several times passed resolutions in favor of this 
proposition, but the King vetoed them. Finally, on June 7, 
1905, the Storthing took a decisive step by unanimously 
passing a resolution which declared that the union with 
Sweden was thereby dissolved. The question now was 
whether the latter would permit Norway to secede or 
whether she would try to compel her to stay in the Union. 
For a time it looked like civil war, but in the end better coun- 
sel prevailed. It was decided to allow the Norwegian people 
to settle their own national destiny through a plebiscite. 

When this was held, the result showed an almost unani- 
mous vote in favor of independence, as only one hundred 
independ- anc ^ eighty-four votes were cast against it. 
ence of Nor- Sweden was chagrined, but she loyally accepted 
the outcome. Norway thereupon became an 
independent nation, and she chose as 1 her King, Prince 
Charles, the second son of King Frederick VIII of Den- 
mark, who was crowned on June 22, 1906, as Haakon VII, 
successor to Haakon VI, the last independent King of 
Norway. A treaty between Sweden and Norway provided 
that, in case of a dispute between them, final resort should 
be to the Hague Tribunal, and that no fortifications should 
be erected by either party on the frontier separating them. 

In 1907 Gustavus V ascended the throne of Sweden. His 
reign witnessed the rapid growth of a radical movement 
Democratic which demanded complete democracy in gov- 
progress in ernment. Universal male suffrage for the lower 
House of the Riksdag was adopted in 1909, but 
successive attempts to enfranchise the women were defeated 
by the upper House. The Cabinet was made responsible 
to the Riksdag, although the King continued to exercise 
considerable influence on the policies of the Government. 

Sweden has a population of about 5,600,000, the majority 
of whom are engaged in agriculture. She has practically no 
coal, but numerous waterfalls supply abundant electrical 



THE SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS 477 

energy. In recent years, as a result of the exploitation of 
her forests and her extensive iron mines, Swedish ^ 

fcxonomic 

industry has made remarkable progress. Large progress in 
quantities of timber, wooden ware, and iron are 
exported. Wood-pulp mills operated by electricity abound 
everywhere. As a result of the introduction of these indus- 
tries, a working class made its appearance which is per- 
meated with socialism. A general strike took place in 1909 
which spread from the pulp mills to the other industries, 
and involved about 285,000 men. Stockholm was for a 
time completely tied up, but the strikers were finally com- 
pelled to return to their work. 

The Swedish elections in 191 1 resulted in the choice of 
one hundred and two Liberals, sixty-four Conservatives, 
and sixty-four Socialists. Fear of possible Rus- p ar iiament 
sian aggression frequently aroused the country, opposes the 
and a strong sentiment demanded a larger army ing 
and navy. In 191 4 there took place a remarkable demon- 
stration of peasants, thousands of whom came from all 
parts of Sweden to petition the King for greater military 
preparedness. King Gustavus assured them of his warm 
sympathy, which gave rise to a bitter controversy in the 
Riksdag. The Liberal Ministry was opposed to an increase 
in the military and naval establishments, and resigned as a 
protest against the King's action. A dissolution of Parlia- 
ment in 1 91 4 resulted in the triumph of the King, as the 
new Riksdag passed the defense bills which he advocated. 

Norway's government is one of the most democratic in 
the world. The King merely reigns. All executive author- 
ity is vested in a cabinet responsible to the Stor- Democracy 
thing, which is essentially a parliament of one ln Norwa y 
House elected by universal suffrage. Norway has the dis- 
tinction of being the first European nation to confer full 
parliamentary suffrage on women. Women possessing prop- 
erty were enfranchised in 1907; six years later (191 3) all 
women citizens were enfranchised and given complete 
political equality with men. 

Norway's wealth is in her forests. Like Sweden, she 



478 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

exports large quantities of wood and wooden ware. Fish- 
Norwa ' m & * s anotner great industry and it provides a 
economic livelihood for a considerable portion of her people, 
progres j n proportion to her population, which is about 

2,400,000, Norway has the largest merchant marine in the 
world, and she ranks after Great Britain, Germany, and the 
United States in the tonnage of her vessels. 

Scandinavian Literature 

The Scandinavian nations have exercised comparatively 
little influence on the political and economic history of 
Influence of Europe; but, from the point of view of their liter- 
vian Htera- ar ^ contributions, they may be ranked as first- 
ture grade nations. A race of literary vikings arose, 

who boldly set sail for unknown seas of thought, daring to 
face the storms of criticism and the shafts of ridicule. A 
veritable literary invasion of Europe by Scandinavian 
writers took place during the latter part of the nineteenth 
century, and the bold literary adventurers succeeded in 
conquering and holding a great place in the cultural life of 
the nations of Europe. 

A unique personality was the famous Dane, Hans Christian 
Andersen (1805-75), the greatest of all children's story- 
tellers. His immortal fairy tales transformed 
the nonsense of the nursery into stories which 
have charmed and delighted millions of children. Andersen 
had the soul of a child, and life to him was a fairy-tale; he 
therefore wrote with that naive seriousness and simplicity 
that only children can appreciate. One can almost see, hear, 
and touch the characters in his tales; even the animals 
speak as animals would if they could. Andersen may be 
said to have discovered the soul of the child; and so uni- 
versally beloved is he that there is hardly a person in 
Europe or America who has not heard or read his tales. 

Few modern writers have exercised so wide and so deep 
an influence as the Norwegian, Henrik Ibsen (1 828-1906), 
whose dramas were the literary sensation of Europe and 
America for many years. Ibsen was a stern social moralist. 



THE SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS 479 

His chief aim was to expose the shams and illusions of 
middle-class society, whose respectability he re- 
garded as a mask for cowards and as a pitfall 
for the good and the simple. He despised democracy as 
a vulgar middle-class invention intended to deceive the 
masses into the belief that they ruled because they voted, 
whereas they were really the tools of the philistine bour- 
geois who used them to crush those that were the true 
champions of freedom and progress. "The most dangerous 
foe to truth and freedom in our midst is the compact ma- 
jority," declares one of his characters. That the majority 
was always wrong, Ibsen was firmly convinced; and he 
believed that the true benefactors of the race were those 
individuals who proclaimed their independence of the con- 
ventions of the day and dared to live their own lives in their 
own way. The more a man finds himself in a minority the 
more apt is he to be right; "the strongest man in the world 
is he who stands most alone." In Ibsen's hands the theater 
became the means of social propaganda and the vehicle 
for radical ideas. 

His drama, An Enemy of the People, is an exposure of 
political and commercial dishonesty masquerading as de- 
mocracy. Dr. Stockmann, the hero, finds that the baths of 
his town, which is a famous health resort, are contaminated 
by sewage; and instead of being a cure for the sick they 
are really pest-holes. He so informs the authorities, who, 
fearing that the town would be ruined financially if this were 
generally known, determine to hush up the matter. In- 
stead of being regarded as a benefactor, Dr. Stockmann 
suddenly finds that he is being hounded by all classes in the 
community. The town is in an uproar over his determina- 
tion to expose the evil, and mass meetings are held de- 
nouncing him "as an enemy of the people." He bravely 
holds his own, fully expecting that the Liberal elements, 
"the friends of the people," will come to his aid. To his 
amazement, "a compact Liberal majority" is organized, 
which incites the mob to attack him so that he barely 
escapes with his life. 



480 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Another exposure of social hypocrisy is contained in 
The Pillars of Society. Consul Bernick is a respectable mer- 
chant with a fine reputation among his neighbors as a 
good citizen, loving father, and faithful husband. He is par- 
ticularly desirous that the "moral tone" of the commun- 
ity be rigorously upheld, and he is consequently active in all 
civic duties. But this pillar of society is hollow and rotten 
within ; he secretly profits from his public activity, oppresses 
his workingmen, browbeats his wife, and enters into shady 
commercial transactions, all the while maintaining an appear- 
ance of great respectability. He always has a glib mouthful 
of platitudes about "the moral foundations of society," 
"good citizenship," and "one's duty to one's neighbors." 
His reprehensible dealings are finally discovered, but he 
manages to throw the blame on an innocent man who is 
sailing for America, and so "the moral tone of the com- 
munity" is saved. 

In The DolVs House Ibsen created a new type in litera- 
ture, the emancipated woman. This drama caused a great 
sensation throughout the world, for it was a most bitter 
attack on the conventions of family life. It also brought the 
subject of the rights of women prominently before the pub- 
lic. Torvald Helmer is a model husband and father, loving 
his wife, Nora, and his children most devotedly. Nora be- 
comes anxious about her husband's health; and in order to 
get money to enable him to go to a health resort she forges 
her father's name to a note, not realizing the seriousness of 
the offense. She secretly works to pay off the debt, but the 
forgery is discovered. Helmer is roused to a high pitch of 
moral indignation at his wife ; he denounces her for putting 
in jeopardy his future and his honor, forgetting that she had 
forged the note for his sake. Nora now realizes that all these 
years she had been regarded by her husband, not as an in- 
dividual with a soul of her own, but as a petted child living 
in "a doll'shouse"; that her sole function had been to serve 
as wife and mother in return for support and shelter. She 
comes to loathe such a life as degrading and dishonorable. 
"I believe that before all else I am a human being, just as 



THE SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS 481 

much as you are, or at least that I should try to become 
one," she tells her husband. She believes herself unfit to be 
a true wife and mother until she is able to share in the 
burdens and responsibilities of the world outside the home, 
and proposes to leave her husband. Helmer is outraged, 
and remonstrates with her on her duty to him, to her chil- 
dren, and to God. But Nora's reply is that her supreme 
duty is toward herself. 

Ibsen was a poet as well as a dramatist. His two poetic 
dramas, Brand and Peer Gynt, are highly symbolic inter- 
pretations of life and destiny. In Brand he portrays a char- 
acter who will not compromise in the least with his ideals, 
but adheres to them with unswerving fidelity. As a con- 
sequence, he finds himself a soul apart from the rest of man- 
kind, for his ideals are too high to be attained. In Peer Gynt, 
on the contrary, is the type of weak character, easily influ- 
enced, who follows his whims and never squarely faces the 
problems of life; hence his soul crumbles. Brand fails be- 
cause of his strength, Peer Gynt because of his weakness. 

Bjornstjerne Bjornson (1 832-1910), the Norwegian poet, 
novelist, dramatist, and patriot, shared with Ibsen the 
hegemony of Scandinavian literature. His writ- _,. 

, • 1 1 • • Bjornson 

ings are characterized by an intense patriotism 
which made him exceedingly popular in Norway, whose in- 
dependence of Sweden he warmly espoused. It was re- 
marked of him that merely to mention his name was like 
running up the flag of Norway. Bjornson was greatly in- 
terested in the heroic age of his country and wrote many 
poems and dramas about the old vikings. His main literary 
purpose, however, was "to create a new saga in the light 
of the peasant," for he believed that the Norwegian country 
folk were the true descendants of the ancient Norse heroes. 
He therefore wrote many stories of peasant life, the best 
known of which are Arne and Synnove Solbakken, in which 
the virtues of the peasants are held up as models for the 
nation. 

August Strindberg (1 849-1912), the Swedish writer, is 
regarded as the leading iconoclast in contemporary Euro- 



482 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

pean literature. Strindberg's work is characterized by a 
„ . „ fanatic hatred of what he conceived to be 

Strmdberg , e ^ ^ • ^ i i • 

the vices of women bred in them by their 
subordinate position. Fear of women became almost an 
obsession with him, and he passionately insisted that they 
are the inveterate enemies of men of genius whom they 
try either to ruin or to cheat. Women, he believed, care 
only for their children and are interested in men only as 
fathers and as breadwinners. 

Strindberg was a master of the one-act play, a type of 
literary composition of which he was to a considerable ex- 
tent the originator.' His characters are generally brutal, 
selfish, gross, and constantly quarreling. Although a seeker 
after the ideal, he was so much at odds with every one and 
with everything that he finally arrived at being a hopeless 
pessimist. As he himself once declared, "To search for God 
and find the Devil! — that is what happened to me." He 
was a master of .biting irony, and his characterizations of 
persons leave a burning sensation in the reader. He speaks 
of one man as "an intellectual cannibal" who devours the 
reputations of his rivals; and of another as "a wandering 
shame whose face was known to all and who was branded 
with his own name." Strindberg's best-known works are 
the dramas, Countess Julie, The Father, The Stronger, and 
Comrades; the semi-autobiography entitled The Confessions 
of a Fool; and a volume of short stories called Marriage. 
His works are so erratic that their merit is still subject 
to much literary controversy. 

Little Denmark has the honor of producing Georg Morris 

Cohen Brandes (1842- ), the greatest literary critic since 

Sainte-Beuve. Brandes's conception of criticism 

Brandes . ... , f - -. , ., 

is most broad; it is to blend literature, phil- 
osophy, history, and sociology in order to give a true and 
complete idea of the evolution of the human spirit. In the 
great work, Main Currents of Nineteenth Century Literature, 
he takes all of Europe for his province and writes profoundly 
and convincingly on the writers and movements of the 
period. Unlike Sainte-Beuve, whose knowledge was mainly 



THE SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS 483 

of the Romance nations, Brandes is equally at home in 
English, Russian, German, Polish, French, and Italian, as well 
as in Scandinavian literature; moreover, his sympathies are 
decidedly with the new men and the new ideals. He was 
the first to discover Nietzsche and to give this brilliant and 
highly original German philosopher his place in the world of 
letters. 



CHAPTER XX 

HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 

The Netherlands 

Although ranking as small nations, Holland, Belgium, 
and Switzerland occupy an important place in the Euro- 
Strategic pean political system because of their strategic 
tte three ° f geographic locations. Holland is a window to 
states Germany looking out on the North Sea, through 

which invading English or German armies might pass. Bel- 
gium is essentially a buffer state between France and Ger- 
many, and "a pistol pointing at the heart of England." 
Switzerland is wedged in among four great nations, Ger- 
many, France, Italy, and Austria, and serves the useful 
purpose of preventing them from being too near neighbors. 

After the downfall of Napoleon, the House of Orange 
was restored in the person of William I, who assumed the 
Union of ^ e °^ King of the Netherlands, and not the old 
Holland and title of Stadholder. To William were given Hol- 
land and the region now known as Belgium, as 
both countries were erected into a single kingdom by the 
Congress of Vienna. A constitution was adopted which 
provided for a States-General, or parliament, with limited 
powers, the upper House to be appointed by the King and 
the lower to be elected by provincial bodies. Belgium and 
Holland were given an equal number of representatives in 
the lower House. 

Like the other unions arranged by the diplomats of the 
Congress of Vienna, this one also proved unhappy. There 
were sharp differences between the two peoples, which were 
Dissatisfac- a ^ the more exasperating to the Belgians because 
tion of the they occupied an inferior position in the union. 

Belgians . , . , 

with Dutch Chief among these was religion. In the main, the 
ruIe Dutch are Protestant, belonging to the rigid 

Calvinist sect, while the Belgians are intensely Catholic. 



HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 485 

The provision in the constitution for equal treatment of 
both faiths was resented by the Catholic clergy because 
they had always enjoyed special privileges in Belgium. 
Language was another dividing line. Dutch was declared to 
be the only official language of the kingdom, but this was a 
foreign tongue to many of the Belgians, particularly among 
the educated, who spoke French. The Belgians complained 
of the unjust system of representation in the States-General 
which allowed them only as many delegates as Holland, 
although their population was twice that of the latter. In 
the States-General the Dutch and Belgian members were 
always arrayed against each other, and measures were car- 
ried through by the King, who generally managed to in- 
fluence a sufficient number of Belgians to vote with the 
Dutch. Nearly all the officials in the civil and military 
service were Dutch; and the Belgians felt that they were 
being discriminated against and treated like a conquered 
people. In 1821 new taxes were devised which fell mainly 
on the Belgians, who thereupon began a bitter attack on 
the Government through the press. King William, though 
well-meaning, was inclined to be headstrong and arbitrary. 
Through his influence strict censorship laws were enacted 
which led to the imprisonment of Belgian journalists. 

The July Revolution of 1830 in Paris inflamed the dis- 
contented Belgians. Riots broke out in the streets of Brus- 
sels and quickly spread throughout the country. i n d epen d_ 
A provisional government was organized which ence of Bel- 
declared Belgium a free and independent nation. 
A national convention was called, which formally estab- 
lished Belgium as a constitutional monarchy; and in July, 
1 83 1, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was chosem ruler 
with the title of Leopold I, King of the Belgians. 

The Belgian revolution was a matter of international 
concern. The question arose, What was to be the status of 
this new kingdom, which occupied so important N eutra n za - 
a strategic position? A conference of the Powers tion of Bel- 
took place in London, at which Great Britain, 
Austria, Prussia, and Russia were represented, to decide 



486 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

on the future of Belgium. On November 15, 1831, a 
treaty was signed by these four Powers which declared 
that Belgium "shall form an independent and perpetually 
neutral state" which was to observe the same neutrality 
toward all the other states. But Holland stubbornly re- 
fused to agree to this arrangement, and a Dutch army 
under King William invaded Belgium and won several 
battles. A French army was now sent to meet the victori- 
ous Dutch, who thereupon decided to come to terms and 
to recognize Belgium, which they did in 1839. Another 
international conference took place in London which, on 
April 19, 1839, adopted a treaty similar to the one of 1831, 
and which was signed by the same Powers and Belgium. 
The latter agreed not to make any treaty of alliance with 
any other nation and to refuse at all times to allow her 
neutrality to be violated. 

For centuries Belgium had been the battle ground of 
Europe. This choice morsel, with its fine harbors and 
Advantage- extensive manufactures, had been coveted by 
ous position the nations of Europe. At various times Spain, 
egium Austria, France, and Holland had possessed it. 
Now, in the interest of European peace, it was decided that 
Belgium should belong to herself; and for the first time in 
all her history she became an independent nation. The new 
kingdom was given a peculiarly advantageous position in 
the state system of Europe ; not only was her existence rec- 
ognized like that of any other nation, but her territory was 
especially guaranteed against invasion. The former battle 
ground was to be forever at peace, and she therefore had 
no need to maintain an army and navy to protect her- 
self. Europe would see to that. 

The separation of Belgium from the Netherlands pro- 
duced among the Dutch general dissatisfaction with their 
Constitution government. In 1840 William abdicated, and his 
of 1848 successor, William II, was faced by a powerful 

Liberal opposition led by the distinguished Dutch jurist 
and statesman, Johan Rudolf Thorbecke. The European 
revolution of 1848 had a marked effect in accelerating the 



HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 487 

Liberal movement in Holland. In that year a constitu- 
tion was promulgated which radically changed the char- 
acter of the States-General. The upper House was made 
elective by the provincial assemblies, and the lower by citi- 
zens possessing property qualifications. The Cabinet was 
made responsible to the States-General, though the King 
continued to exercise considerable influence on the conduct 
of the Government. 

During the long reign of William III (1849-90), the 
Liberals under Thorbecke were in almost complete control. 
They reorganized the administration, reformed R u i e of the 
the electoral laws, and built great public works, Llberals 
such as canals, docks, and railways. The Haarlem Lake was 
drained and turned into a huge meadow. 

The two most important questions before the Dutch 
people since 1848 have been those regarding popular edu- 
cation and suffrage. The Catholics and Calvin- The school 
ists strongly favored the control of the public q uestlon 
schools by the religious bodies; this was opposed by the 
Liberals, who wished to keep the schools free from secta- 
rian influences. The Catholics and Calvinists, in 1889, were 
able to pass a law giving state support to their denom- 
inational schools and introducing religious instruction in the 
public schools. 

The constitution of 1 848 did not give the vote to the lower 
classes, and an agitation for universal male suffrage was 
started that resulted in the electoral reform of Extension 
1887 which trebled the vote, though it did not of the suf- 
establish universal manhood suffrage. A strong age 
socialist movement began to appear, and the fear of revo- 
lution led to the formation of the Anti-Revolutionary 
Party, which, although strongly Calvinist, yet combined 
with the Catholics to oppose radicalism in general and uni- 
versal suffrage in particular. In 1896 a further extension 
of the suffrage was made as a result of the socialist agita- 
tion that gave the vote to all householders and lodgers as 
in England; hence it did not establish complete universal 
manhood suffrage. 



488 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

King William died in 1890, and he was succeeded by his 
little daughter, Wilhelmina, who came of age in 1898, when 
Anxiety of sne was crowned Queen of the Netherlands. 1 
the Dutch Her marriage to the German Prince Henry of 
the'irTnde- Mecklenburg-Schwerin caused anxiety among 
pendence the Dutch, for they feared that it might cause 
their country to fall under German influences. But the 
birth of an heiress to the throne in 1909 somewhat quieted 
their fears. In recent years there has been a growing un- 
easiness among the Dutch lest their great colonial posses- 
sions, fine harbors, and rich trade might tempt their pow- 
erful neighbors to acts of aggression. It was also feared 
that, in case of war between England and Germany, Hol- 
land's neutrality might be violated by either or by both. 
As a result army reforms were made in 1898 and in 191 2, 
which introduced compulsory military service on the Swiss 
model. 2 A coast-defense law, passed in 1913, provided for 
elaborate fortifications at Flushing and at Amsterdam. 

The population of the Netherlands in 191 2 was about 
six million, most of whom depended upon commerce, 
Economic dairy farming, and fishing for their livelihood, 
conditions There is little manufacturing in Holland because 
of a lack of coal and iron; hence she is practically a free- 
trade country. Holland has become an entrepot for the manu- 
factures of the Continent on their way to England or over- 
seas. Much of her prosperity depends on her shipments 
from Germany with whom she has close economic ties. 

Until 1848 the colonial possessions 3 of the Netherlands 
were under the personal rule of the King, but in that 
The colo- year the States-General assumed control. The 
nies East India colonies are exceedingly valuable for 

their coffee, tea, sugar, tobacco, and spices. In order to get 

1 Holland is the name generally given by English-speaking people to the 
Netherlands, the official name of the country. 

2 See p. 496. 

3 Holland possesses a great colonial empire containing a population esti- 
mated at forty million. The most important colonies are in the East Indies, 
Java, Sumatra, half of Borneo, part of New Guinea, and the Celebes group of 
islands. 



HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 489 

as much as possible of these products the Dutch estab- 
lished in Java a unique system of taxation. The natives 
were compelled to set aside one fifth of their land on which 
to raise these tropical products exclusively for the Govern- 
ment, by whom they were bought at prices fixed by itself 
and shipped to Amsterdam, where they were sold at market 
prices. In this way the Government was able to obtain 
large revenues. This system of forced labor was de- 
nounced in Holland as establishing a condition of semi- 
slavery, but it was defended on the ground that the natives 
were lazy and would produce only sufficient for their own 
sustenance unless compelled to do more. In 1870 the system 
was abolished. On the whole the Dutch colonies have been 
well governed and a source of prosperity for the mother 
country. 

Belgium 

As we have just seen, Belgium became an independent 
nation in 1830. There being no hereditary dynasty, the 
problem of monarchy was settled at the outset _ 

f -i 1 • 1 • • 1 1 1 Government 

by the choice of a king, with the clear under- 
standing that the government of the kingdom was to be 
strictly constitutional. There has never been any friction 
between the Belgian kings and the people, as the former 
have not tried to dominate the country. According to the 
constitution, executive authority is lodged in a Cabinet re- 
sponsible to Parliament for its existence. The latter is bi- 
cameral, consisting of a Senate 1 and a Chamber of Deputies, 
both of which are elected by the people. 

The people of Belgium are divided into two distinct 
races who differ from each other in language, in manner 
of life, and in political and cultural ideals. In The pj em . 
the northern provinces live about four million ings and 
Flemings, a people of Teutonic stock, who speak 
a language akin to Dutch and whose main source of liveli- 
hood is agriculture. The Flemings are devout Catholics, 
and it was through their influence that the constitutional 

1 One quarter of the Senate is elected by provincial bodies. 



490 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

position of the Church was made most favorable. The Bel- 
gian Catholic Church has all the privileges and none of the 
burdens of an established church ; it receives public support 
and official recognition, but the State has no control over its 
officials or administration. The southern provinces are 
inhabited by about three and a half million Walloons, of 
Celtic origin, whose language is French, and who are en- 
gaged in industrial pursuits. Although Catholic in religion, 
these Walloons have shown themselves hostile to the Church, 
for they are inspired by the anti-clerical spirit of their neigh- 
bors, the French. 

These two elements combined in 1830 to overthrow 
Dutch domination; but once this was accomplished, a sharp 
Catholics division arose between them. Two parties ap- 
and Liberals p eare d, the Catholics representing the Flemings 
and the Liberals the Walloons, who fought over three 
questions, popular education, the suffrage, and the offi- 
cial language. The Catholics favored the control of the 
schools by the Church, high property qualifications for vot- 
ing, and the equality of Flemish with French as an official 
language. On the other hand, the Liberals favored the es- 
tablishment of a system of free popular education on a secu- 
lar basis, the broadening of the suffrage, and the mainte- 
nance of French as the only official language. 

During the greater part of the nineteenth century the 
Liberals were in control of the Government under the able 
Rule of the leadership, first of Charles Rogier, and later of 
Liberals Wal there Frere-Orban. During the reign of 
Leopold II ( 1 865-1 909) important reforms were instituted 
by the Liberals. An education law, passed in 1879, estab- 
lished a public- school system on a secular basis to be sup- 
ported by the communes with subventions from the Govern- 
ment; no public support was to be given to schools other than 
those recognized by the Government. This law greatly 
angered the Catholics, who denounced it as "perverse, im- 
pious, and contrary to divine law"; and they established a 
rival school system under Church influence for which they 
demanded public support. 



HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 491 

In 1848 a reform in the electoral law had nearly doubled 
the number of voters, but universal suffrage had not been 
established. The Liberals split into two factions, R u i e of the 
a conservative one that wished to maintain the Catnollcs 
property qualification in order to insure the control of the 
Government by the middle classes, and a radical one that 
desired universal manhood suffrage. Mainly as a result of 
this division, the Catholic Party triumphed in the elections 
of 1884 and has been in power ever since. Almost immedi- 
ately a law was passed reversing Belgium's educational 
policy. The school law of 1884 provided that a commune 
could adopt either a ''neutral" or a "free" school. 1 In the 
Catholic districts this meant that public support would be 
given to the Church schools. Later (1895) religious instruc- 
tion was made compulsory in all the public schools. The 
policy of the Catholic Government was to favor the "free" 
schools in every way possible, with the result that they 
rapidly began to supplant the "neutral" schools. It also 
passed many laws for the benefit of the working classes, such 
as factory reforms and social insurance. 

The rapid industrialization of Belgium gave birth in 1885 
to the Labor Party, a Socialist organization which, since the 
decline of the Liberals, has been the backbone of Extension 
the opposition to the Catholics. The Socialists of the suf- 
began a widespread agitation for universal male 
suffrage with which many of the Liberals sympathized. A 
series of strikes were organized in protest against the 
property suffrage, which culminated in the general strike 
of 1893 in which thousands of workingmen participated. 
The Government was forced to take up the electoral ques- 
tion, and the law of 1893 was passed, establishing universal 
suffrage, but with plural voting. 

Belgium has the distinction of having an electoral sys- 
tem which is, at the same time, the most and the least demo- 
cratic in Europe. Every citizen is entitled to one vote ; an 

1 The public schools in Belgium are known as " neutral " because they are 
neutral in religion; the Catholic schools are known as "free" because free from 
government control. 



492 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

additional vote is given to those who are fathers of families, 
„. , . or who own land, or who derive an income from 

Plural voting . . 

investments; two additional votes are given to 
those who are graduates of higher institutions of learning, 
or to professional men or high officials. No citizen can have 
more than three votes. 1 The main purpose of this law was 
to outvote the working classes in the cities by giving elec- 
toral privileges to the well-to-do, with the result that a kind 
of political caste system was established, as in Prussia, 
which insured the supremacy of the propertied classes. 

In order to counterbalance the evil effects of plural vot- 
ing, the system known as "proportional representation" 
Proportional was adopted in 1 899. Weighty objections have, 
representa- in recent times, been made to the modern sys- 
tem of single-member constituencies, according 
to which the candidate having a majority or plurality of the 
votes in his district is declared elected. From this method, 
it is claimed, follow serious evils. In the first place, the mi- 
nority in a district, no matter how large, is unrepresented, 
and the majority or plurality, no matter how small, is over- 
represented; hence the size of the parties in the legislature 
is generally out of all proportion to the votes cast for them. 
When a candidate is elected by a plurality, as is frequently 
the case in the United States and in England, the injustice 
is most glaring, for then minority rule is established; and 
more than once has the party in control of Parliament been 
elected by a minority of the voters in the country. In order 
to get the small number of votes necessary to make the 
majority or plurality in a district, all kinds of corrupt de- 
vices are resorted to, gerrymandering, bribery, and coercion. 
What is necessary, say the advocates of proportional repre- 
sentation, is to arrange a system that will give each party 
its rightful representation in Parliament by having candi- 
dates elected only by those who vote for them. This can be 
accomplished by enlarging the single-member constituency 
into one of three or more members to be voted for on a 

1 In the elections of 19 12, fifty-eight per cent of the electorate cast one vote, 
twenty-four per cent two votes, and eighteen per cent three votes. 



HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 493 

general ticket ; and those candidates that receive the num- 
ber of votes required for election will be declared elected. 
There are many different schemes of proportional repre- 
sentation; the one used in Belgium is known as the "list" 
system. There, each of the three parties, Catholic, Liberal, 
and Labor, selects a list of candidates equal to the number 
of representatives allotted to the district; each voter then 
casts his ballot for the list of his choice, and seats are as- 
signed to each party in proportion to its electoral strength. 

Proportional representation has given general satisfac- 
tion in Belgium, and the political problem would have been 
solved were it not for plural voting which, it is The general 
asserted, tends to keep the Catholic Party in equal suf- 
power; for the bulk of its supporters, the Flemish fra § e 
peasant proprietors, are entitled to two votes because of 
their ownership of land. An alliance was formed between 
the Liberals and the Socialists to demand the abolition of 
plural voting and the establishment of an electoral system 
based on the principle of "one man, one vote." On April 
4, 1 91 3, there took place an extraordinary demonstration, 
a political general strike: about 375,000 men of all trades 
stopped work, not for better wages or shorter hours, but for 
equal manhood suffrage. Thousands of shopkeepers volun- 
tarily closed their shops out of sympathy with the move- 
ment, which was characterized as a "strike with folded 
arms," for no violence of any kind took place. After ten 
days the general strike came to an end, but only on the as- 
surance of the Government that it would revise the entire 
electoral system. 

The most significant fact about Belgium is its extra- 
ordinary economic development. Splendid coal and iron 
mines and oil fields have made possible exten- Economic 
sive mining and manufacturing which give little devel °P m ent 
Belgium the position of a great economic power. In in- 
dustrial importance she ranks after England, the United 
States, Germany and France. 1 

1 In 191 1 Belgium produced about 5,500,000 tons of steel, which was more 
than twenty times the output in 1880. Her production of coal in 191 1 was about 



494 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

King Leopold II (i 865-1 909), who was an able business 
promoter, took a prominent part in the exploitation and 
The new partitioning of Africa. 1 He acquired a huge re- 
army law gj on ca ii ec j the Congo Free State which was 
under his personal rule until 1908, when it was formally 
annexed to Belgium. At the beginning of the reign of King 
Albert (1909- ) the possibility of a general European war 
arose, and fears were entertained by the Belgians that their 
neutrality might be violated in spite of the guarantees of 
the powers. A new army law was therefore passed in 191 3 
which made military service compulsory for all citizens. 
Fortifications were built, particularly along the German 
frontier because of greater fear from that quarter. 

The little Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, once a member 

of the Germanic Confederation, was not incorporated in 

the German Empire. It was united in a personal 

Luxemburg . . *V ., i 

union with the Netherlands until the accession 
of Queen Wilhelmina in 1890, when the personal union was 
dissolved, and Luxemburg became an independent nation, 
with its neutrality guaranteed, like that of Belgium, by the 
European Powers. 

The Swiss Confederation 

Until the nineteenth century Switzerland was no more 
than a geographical expression for a group of tiny communi- 
The Hel- ** es * na ^ were practically independent of one 
vetic repub- another. The first step toward Swiss unity was 

lie • 

the establishment by the French, in 1798, of 
the Helvetic Republic, which unified the various cantons 
into a highly centralized state. At the Congress of Vienna, 
Switzerland was once more divided into semi-independent 
cantons; the only bond of union was a Federal Diet with 
very limited powers, like the American Continental Con- 
gress under the Articles of Confederation. 

During the first half of the nineteenth century Switzer- 

25,400,000 tons. Her total foreign trade in 191 1 was valued at about $1,618,- 
000,000, an increase of three hundred per cent over that of 1880. 
1 See p. 677. 



HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 495 

land was torn by revolts, civil wars, and quarrels among 
the cantons. Everything seemed to make for The Sonder- 
division and disunion. The people were of three bund 
different races, German, French, and Italian; they were 
also sharply divided by religion into Protestants and Catho- 
lics; they differed in political ideals, as some of the cantons 
were democratic and others aristocratic ; there was also the 
traditional rivalry of the various cantons. In 1847 Switzer- 
land was in the throes of a general civil war. Seven of the 
Catholic cantons organized a separate union called the 
Sonderbund, and seceded from the Confederation. This 
awakened a sense of nationalism among the Swiss, and the 
Federal Diet resolved to crush the rebellion. The armies of 
the Sonderbund were defeated, and the Catholic cantons 
were compelled to rejoin the Confederation. 

The Swiss, now fully realizing that the loose nature of their 
union invited secession, adopted an entirely new constitu- 
tion in 1848 which organized Switzerland as a Constitu- 
federal union closely modeled on that of the tlon of l8 4 8 
United States. This constitution preserved the historic local 
government of the cantons, but, at the same time, it estab- 
lished a strong central government with ample power to 
enforce its will over them. Freedom of speech and of asso- 
ciation, religious toleration, and the rights of the various 
races were guaranteed. The constitution was revised in 
1874 m the direction of greater centralization, as more 
powers were given to the Federal Government. 

For many decades the Swiss political parties divided on 
the issue of "state rights." The Conservatives held out 
for greater cantonal self-government and the old and new 
Liberals for a stronger nationalism. In recent P robIems 
years new issues have come to the fore which are mainly 
economic and cultural. The chief political parties are the 
Catholics, the Liberals, the Radicals, and the Socialists, who 
differ on matters affecting education, religion, and social 
reform. 

The Swiss Government, both federal and cantonal, pre- 
sents unique and interesting features. The federal legisla- 



496 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ture, called the Federal Assembly, is bicameral; the upper 
„ House, or Council of the States, is composed, 

Government ...... ~ r 

like the American Senate, ol two representa- 
tives from each state or canton, of which there are twenty- 
two; the lower House, or National Council, is elected by 
direct universal male suffrage. Executive authority is lodged 
in a board of directors, called the Federal Council, composed 
of seven men elected by the Federal Assembly. The Fed- 
eral Council is purely an administrative body, not a cabi- 
net, as the members are generally chosen irrespective of 
party affiliations. Its chairman is known as the President 
of the Swiss Confederation. 

The cantons enjoy considerable local autonomy. Direct 
rather than representative government is the historic tradi- 
tion in Switzerland, and a few of the cantons continue to 
Initiative maintain their Lands gemeinden, or town meet- 
and refer- ings. The others have adopted a new form of 
direct government called the "initiative and ref- 
erendum." By the initiative is meant that a measure may be 
proposed by a specified number of voters and presented to 
the cantonal legislature for adoption; if the latter defeats 
the measure, it must be submitted to a popular vote, or refer- 
endum, for adoption or rejection. A kind of popular veto is 
contained in another form of referendum, which provides 
that if a specified number of voters so petition, a law en- 
acted by a cantonal legislature must be submitted to a popu- 
lar vote for ratification or rejection. In 1891 this form of 
referendum was made operative in the case of laws passed by 
the Federal Assembly. Contrary to general expectation, 
direct Government in Switzerland has shown conservative 
tendencies, as radical proposals have been defeated by 
popular vote. 

The neutrality of Switzerland was guaranteed by the 
powers in 1815, but her strategic position caused the Swiss 
The military to fear a possible violation of their territory in 
system case Q f war j n order to defend their country 

from attack, they devised a unique military system that may 
be described as a standing national militia. Military service 



HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND 497 

is obligatory upon all citizens between the ages of twenty and 
forty-eight. From twenty to thirty- two, a citizen is in the 
Auszug, or Elite. During the first year he is required to be in 
training sixty-five days, and during the remaining years he is 
called upon to train six times for a period of about two weeks 
each. A high physical development is required for serv- 
ice in the Auszug; and those who are rejected must pay a 
special tax or serve in the auxiliary forces. From thirty- 
two to forty, he is in the Landwehr, or militia; during this 
period he is called for training only once, for eleven days. 
From forty to forty-eight, he is in the Landsturm; during 
this period he must hold himself in readiness to respond to 
a call to the colors, but he is no longer subject to training. 
The Swiss army is efficiently organized, and a well-trained 
force of three hundred thousand men can easily be put into 
the field to defend the country from invasion. 

Switzerland is inhabited by about 3,800,000 people, sixty- 
five per cent of whom are German-speaking, twenty-three 
per cent French, and twelve per cent Italian. Switzerland 
Since the secession movement of 1848, they have and inter- 

, 1 . 11 1 1 1 nationalism 

managed to get along very well, largely because 
of mutual toleration. As the three languages have equal 
standing, and as the laws are printed in all three languages 
and members of the Federal Assembly may speak in any 
one of them, the division into political parties is not along 
race lines. Switzerland has played a humanitarian role in 
the world, as she is the center for international meetings, 
congresses, and associations of all sorts. She has also been 
a house of refuge for those fleeing from political tyranny; 
Italian nationalists of the Risorgimento, Hungarian patriots, 
French communists, German socialists, and Russian nihil- 
ists, all have found an asylum in this tiny Alpine republic. 
Switzerland's greatest economic asset is the Alps. The 
chief national industry of the Swiss, from which they reap 
golden harvests, consists in providing for the Economic 
comfort and the needs of the thousands of condltlons 
tourists from all over the world who flock to these won- 
derful mountains. In spite of the lack of coal and iron, 



498 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Switzerland has made marked industrial progress, for her 
factories are run by electrical power obtained from the 
many rapid water-courses of the country. A considerable 
portion of the population is engaged in farming and cattle- 
raising in the fertile valleys. Switzerland exports large 
quantities of cheese, butter, milk, and milk chocolate. 



CHAPTER XXI 

RUSSIA 
1815-1881 

Introduction 

For many centuries Russia had stood almost apart from 
the general current of European history. Her size is so 
very great and her development has been so Backward- 
very different from that of her sister nations that ness of Rus- 
it may be said, with some degree of truth, that sia 
Russia constitutes a separate continent wedged in between 
Europe and Asia. This great empire has lagged far behind 
the other European nations in civilization and in political 
development. During the thirteenth century, when West- 
ern Europe had succeeded in establishing some degree of 
stable civilization under feudalism, Russia was still semi- 
barbaric; during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
when Western Europe was passing from feudalism toward 
national monarchy, Russia was moving toward a kind of 
feudalism; during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 
when Western Europe was shaping constitutional govern- 
ments, Russia was establishing absolute monarchy; for a 
generation preceding the World War, when Western Eu- 
rope was rapidly putting government on a thoroughly 
democratic basis, be it in royal or republican form, Russia 
was desperately trying to establish a constitutional regime. 

The explanation for this backwardness must not be 
sought in the character of the Russian people, for it is no 
more the nature of the Russian to be con- R easons f or 
servative than it is the nature of the Frenchman her back- 
to be progressive. In the highest forms of hu- 
man endeavor, art, literature, and science, Russia has 
given striking evidence of a high degree of culture and origi- 
nality. Tolstoy, Turgeniev, and Dostoievsky in literature; 



500 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Tschaikovsky and Rubinstein in music; Antokolsky and 
Verestchagin in art; Mendeleiev and Metchnikov in science, 
are names of which the most civilized nations could be 
proud. The answer or answers must be sought elsewhere. In 
the first place, Russia had never been a part of the ancient 
Roman Empire; hence it did not receive the blessings of 
the classical civilization, the inestimable heritage of the 
nations of Western Europe. Secondly, Russia was outside 
of the pale of the great Catholic civilization of the Middle 
Ages, for the Slavic barbarians were first Christianized well 
along in the eleventh century by missionaries from Con- 
stantinople, who did not spread Greek civilization as ef- 
fectively as the missionaries from Rome had spread Latin 
civilization. Thirdly, the Russians, unfortunately, were 
conquered early in the thirteenth century by the semi- 
barbarous Tartars, who ruled the country for almost three 
centuries, and did their part in keeping Russia backward. 
In her early history the country consisted of what is now 
called Great Russia, an inland region of which the city 
of Moscow is the center. Having no seacoast, she could not 
get into close communication with the Mediterranean 
civilization of the South or with the Atlantic civilization of 
the West. Russia was a vast, landlocked, undulating plain 
over which barbarians roamed, a land so wild that it 
was hard to tell where "man left off and nature began." 
Cut off as she was from Western Europe, Russia missed 
the enlightenment and stimulus of the Renaissance and 
the vigorous shock of the Protestant Revolution. Even 
the waves of the French Revolution, which rolled over 
and flooded the lands of the Western nations, dashed in 
vain against the granite breakwater of Russian conserva- 
tism. 

Russian history during the nineteenth century has been 
largely concerned with two great movements, one toward 
Russia's democracy, or the establishment of constitu- 
ted of sea- tional government, and the other, expansion, or 
the annexation of new regions in Europe and 
Asia. At first sight it seems strange that the Empire of the 



RUSSIA 501 

Tsars, with its 8,660,000 square miles, covering about one 
sixth of the land surface of the globe, stretching from the 
Baltic Sea to the Pacific, with its base near the Mediterra- 
nean and its head towering above the Arctic Circle, should 
be desirous of more land. In truth, it is rather more water 
than more land that Russia wants, for she has the smallest 
coast-line in proportion to her size of any great nation of the 
world. In Europe her only free outlet to the open sea is 
Archangel, a port on the White Sea which is frozen over 
for half of the year. The other great ports are no more ad- 
vantageously situated. Odessa harbor, on the Black Sea, is 
at the mercy of Turkey, which may close the Dardanelles 
in time of war; Riga harbor, on the Baltic, freezes over on 
the average of one hundred and twenty-seven days a year; 
and Petrograd * harbor, on the Gulf of Finland, freezes 
over on the average of one hundred and forty-seven days 
a year; both Riga and Petrograd are, moreover, at the 
mercy of whatever power controls the Baltic during war. 
Russia, therefore, has not a single port on the open sea 
which is ice-free all the year round. 

Reign of Alexander I (1801-25) 

Alexander I, who was crowned Tsar in 1801, had been 
brought up in the free-thinking court of his grandmother, 
Catherine II, and had been greatly influenced by Character of 
his tutor, a liberal Swiss named Frederic La- Alexander I 
harpe. The Tsar was a man of a mystical turn of mind, much 
given to morbid musings and easily susceptible to appeals 
to his dreamy nature. Some one characterized him as hav- 
ing "all the gifts of Heaven except common sense." As 
we have already seen, he fell under the spell of Madame 
Kriidener, under whose influence he issued the remarkable 
statement proposing the Holy Alliance. 2 Alexander was 
sincerely interested in the welfare of his subjects and in that 
of Europe generally. As his ideal of government was a 

1 The former name of the capital was St. Petersburg, which is German in 
origin; in 1914, on the outbreak of the World War, the name was changed, 
for patriotic reasons, to Petrograd, its Russian equivalent. 

2 See p. 23. 



502 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 



benevolent despotism, he was constantly busy reforming 
flagrant abuses, removing corrupt officials, and rehabilitat- 
ing the administrative bureaus. He was deeply concerned 
about the condition of the serfs, and favored their emanci- 
pation, which, however, he realized was difficult to accomp- 




lish. So he was constantly urging masters to be kind to 
their bondsmen ; and, as the master of about sixteen millions 
of serfs on the Crown lands, he introduced liberal methods 
in the payment of dues and services. 

A Tsar's general tendency was frequently tested by his 
attitude toward the subject peoples of the Empire. Toward 
the Poles Alexander was very liberal. Poland had been 



RUSSIA 503 

partitioned at the end of the eighteenth century by Prussia, 
Austria, and Russia. 1 In 1815 Russian Poland Liberal atti- 
was declared a kingdom and granted a constitu- ^^ toward 
tion which gave her almost complete autonomy, the Poles 
remaining united with Russia only through the Tsar, who 
was also King of Poland. A Diet, chosen by the nobles and 
burghers, was established, with full power over legislation 
and taxes. In matters of religion and education Polish 
desires were paramount. Polish officials were appointed to 
administer the affairs of the Kingdom, and a Polish army 
was even organized. Curiously enough, conquered Poland 
became a limited monarchy, while the predominant part- 
ner, Russia, remained an autocracy, greatly to the anger of 
the Russians who disliked the Poles as hereditary enemies. 

Alexander's attitude toward Finland was likewise gener- 
ous. As a result of a war with Sweden, this region was ceded 
to Russia in 1809. It was not, however, annexed His liberal 
as a conquered province, for the status of the war^Fin- " 
Grand Duchy of Finland under Russia was almost land 
that of an independent nation. Finland was given the right 
to have her own parliament, administration, code of laws, 
coinage, army, and even official language. The Tsar sol- 
emnly swore to uphold the constitution of the Grand Duchy 
which he himself was forbidden to change. The only con- 
nection between Russia and Finland was a personal union 
through the Tsar, who was the Grand Duke. 

It has been true of the history of many Tsars that they 
began as liberals and ended as reactionaries. Alexander's 
fears were aroused by a series of events which Alexander 
turned him from his liberal course. A regiment becomes re- 
in Petrograd mutinied; his agent Kotzebue was 
assassinated in Germany; secret societies multiplied; the 
Poles manifested a desire for complete independence. These 

1 There were three partitions of Poland, in 1772, 1793, and 1795. In the 
first partition Russia got the territory between the Diina and the Dnieper 
Rivers; Prussia, West Prussia except the city of Dantzig; Austria, Galicia and 
the city of Cracow. In the partitions of 1793 and 1795, Russia got Curland, 
nearly all of Lithuania and Ruthenia; Prussia, the lower valley of the Vistula 
River; Austria, the upper. 



504 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

events inclined him to turn an attentive ear to the arch- 
enemy of democracy, Metternich, who convinced him that 
the path of liberalism would lead to revolution and an- 
archy. Reaction followed, and once more Russia felt the 
heavy hand of oppression. The censorship of the press be- 
came more severe; university teaching was hampered; re- 
straints were placed on the Polish Diet ; and the Government 
became harsh and oppressive. Alexander took a prominent 
part in the Congresses of Troppau and Laibach, called by 
Metternich to suppress the revolutionary movements in 
Spain and Italy. 1 

Reign of Nicholas I (1825-55) 

Alexander I died in 1825, and as he left no son his suc- 
cessor was to be his brother Constantine. But the latter 
Th D had married a Polish lady, and so had renounced 

cembrist the right to the throne in favor of a younger 
brother, Nicholas. A conspiracy was fomented 
among some of the troops by a group of Liberals to over- 
throw the autocracy by declaring in favor of Constantine 
as a constitutional monarch. Several regiments did revolt, 
shouting, "Long live Constantine and the Constitution!" 
So deeply ignorant were the soldiers of the forms of free 
government that they actually believed that "Constitu- 
tion" was Constantine's wife. This uprising of December, 
1825, ended in a fiasco. It was ruthlessly and speedily 
crushed by Nicholas, and the Decembrists, as they were 
called, were executed, imprisoned, or exiled to Siberia. 

Nicholas I was a typical Russian Tsar. A man of magni- 
ficent physique, a soldier by temperament and training, 
Character loving nothing so much as the battle field and 
of Nicholas I p arac j e ground, strong and masterful, he natur- 
ally regarded government as military discipline in another 
form. Criticism of policies was insubordination; a desire for 
self-government was, like mutiny, not to be tolerated for 
a moment. He was, on the other hand, straightforward, 
frank, and honorable to a high degree, loyal to his friends, and 

1 See p. 21. 



RUSSIA 505 

quite blameless in his private life. Nicholas loved Russia 
sincerely and desired above all things to make her happy 
and glorious. It was his profound conviction that Russia 
had a special mission in the world; therefore it behooved 
her to shun the ideals of other nations and steadfastly to 
maintain her own which, according to him, were absolutism 
in government and Orthodoxy in religion. 

During his reign there was established what was called 
the "Nicholas System," which had for its object the eradi- 
cation of all liberalism from the country. He Suppression 
resolved also to seal Russia hermetically from ? f Western 
the pestilential air of Western ideas. Foreign 
books and foreign visitors entering Russia were carefully 
examined at the frontiers to prevent the smuggling in of 
contraband ideas. Russians were forbidden to emigrate 
or to travel in foreign countries without special permission. 
So severe a censorship was established that the utterance of 
an unguarded word or the reading of a forbidden book 
brought swift and terrible punishment. Even musical com- 
positions were censored, as it was feared that the notes might 
be used as a cipher code by revolutionists. Teaching, es- 
pecially, was under strict surveillance, for the universi- 
ties were regarded as hotbeds of revolution. Police spies 
were sent into classrooms to watch the teachers and 
students. Attendance at the universities was so restricted 
that, in 1853, there were only about three thousand stu- 
dents in a population of fifty million. Russians were for- 
bidden to study in foreign universities. Even private read- 
ing clubs were suppressed. In order to carry on this policy 
of repression, an enormous number of censors and spies 
was employed. There was organized a remarkable body of 
secret political police, known as the "Third Section," to 
which was given extensive powers to arrest without war- 
rant and to punish without trial. This body was a kind 
of political inquisition which, in time, became so powerful 
that even high officials were afraid to antagonize it. 

Nicholas was a loyal adherent of the established Orthodox 
Church, which he regarded merely as another phase of the 



506 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Russian State ; in his eyes Church and State were one and 
Religious indivisible. An attempt to convert an Orthodox 
persecution believer to any other faith was made punish- 
able by imprisonment, and if the attempt were repeated, 
by exile to Siberia; the convert himself was sentenced to 
prison for eight to ten years. Roman Catholics, Jews, 
and dissenters were harried by hostile laws and persecuting 
officials. In Lithuania members of the Uniate Church 1 
were fined, imprisoned, or forced into Orthodoxy. Prosely- 
tizing among non-Orthodox, however, was greatly encour- 
aged by rewards and special privileges. 

As long as Nicholas lived, his ideal of a "frozen Russia" 
was, to a great extent, realized. But toward the end of his 
reign there began the inevitable breaking-up of his iron 
system of repression, and he himself is said to have de- 
clared that "my successor may do as he pleases, but I can- 
not change." 

The Poles were restive even under their liberal consti- 
tution, and in 1831 they made a formidable attempt to re- 
Rebellion gain their lost independence by a rebellion against 
Sno U f P the eS " the Russian Government. The Polish Diet for- 
Poles mally deposed the Romanov dynasty and de- 

clared for the annexation of Lithuania, which was once a 
part of the old Kingdom of Poland, although the mass of 
the inhabitants were not Poles but Lithuanians and Rus- 
sians. This aroused the "Autocrat of all the Russias," who 
sent a large army into Poland which ruthlessly suppressed 
the rebellion, and "Peace reigned in Warsaw." As a punish- 
ment, Nicholas revoked the constitution of 181 5 and an 
ukase, or imperial decree, issued in 1832, declared that " Po- 
land shall be henceforth a part of the Empire and form one 
nation with Russia." The Diet was abolished, and a Rus- 
sian Governor-General was appointed with almost abso- 
lute power. Polish officials were displaced in the adminis- 
tration by Russians, and Russian was declared the official 
language of the conquered land. Terrible punistunent was 

1 These are Catholics who, although they use the Greek liturgy and have a 
married priesthood, are in communion with the Church of Rome. 



RUSSIA 507 

meted out to the rebels: their property was confiscated, 
and many were imprisoned, exiled, or executed. To break 
up their solidarity forty-five thousand Polish families were 
forcibly transplanted and scattered all over Russia. Thou- 
sands of Poles, in order to escape the Tsar's tyranny, be- 
came refugees in Western Europe, where they excited the 
greatest sympathy. Crushed to earth, Poland yet dared to 
dream of a restored fatherland, for, deep in their hearts, 
the people still believed "Poland is not yet lost." 

Nicholas's foreign policy had two important objects, the 
suppression of the revolutionary movement abroad and the 
extinction of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, poreien pol- 
The revolutions of 1848, which overthrew abso- icies of 
lutism in nearly every country in Europe, left 
Russia unshaken. Nicholas, the sole monarch at peace with 
his subjects, planted himself in the midst of a revolutionary 
continent and became the efficient cause of the reaction 
which followed in 1850 by assuming the role of an interna- 
tional policeman. 1 He waged two wars against Turkey, one 
in 1828, 2 and another, the famous Crimean War, in 1854. 3 
Greatly to the chagrin of Nicholas, who regarded the na- 
tions of Western Europe with dislike and even with con- 
tempt, England, France, and Sardinia came to the aid of 
Turkey in 1854, an< ^ succeeded in defeating the redoubtable 
Russian armies. Disappointed and broken-hearted by his 
defeat, the Tsar died in 1855 during the great siege of 
Sebastopol, and was succeeded by his son, Alexander II. 
The defeat of Russia in the Crimean War was a severe 
blow to the "Nicholas System," which was doomed when 
Sebastopol fell. Indirectly it led to great reforms in the 
following reign, particularly to the abolition of serfdom. 

Abolition of Serfdom 

The new Emperor was quite different temperamentally 
from his father, for he resembled the benevolent Character of 
despots of the eighteenth century. Alexander Alexand er II 
determined to rule in the spirit of the age and not in the 

1 See p. 135. 2 See p. 628. » See p. 629. 



508 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

spirit of his predecessor. Impressionable, yet gifted with 
prudence and common sense, he generally tried to steer a 
middle course between revolution and reaction. Although 
he was not himself a great constructive statesman, he fre- 
quently followed the enlightened counsels of the liberal 
statesmen, Loris-Melikov and Dmitri Miliutin, and the 
poet Zhukovsky, and his reign is therefore distinguished 
in Russian history as an era of reform and progress. 

It is as the emancipator of the serfs that Alexander won 
fame as an enlightened ruler. Serfdom had been wide- 
Serfdom in spread in Europe during the Middle Ages, 
Russia fo U j. j t ^d begun to disappear in England and 

France by the fourteenth century and was entirely abol- 
ished in Western Europe by the French Revolution and by 
Napoleon. In Russia alone this institution continued to 
flourish. Under serfdom, the tiller of the soil is legally bound 
to the land which he cultivates. He cannot leave the estate 
of the lord without the latter's permission, but neither can 
he be sold away from his home ; for, like the trees and 
crops, he is rooted to the soil and changes masters only 
when the estate changes hands. In 1859 there were in Rus- 
sia about 23,000,000 male serfs; of these, about 12,800,000 
were in a state of semi-bondage on the Crown lands belong- 
ing to the State, and the remainder, about 10,200,000, were 
serfs on the estates of the landed proprietors. The wealth 
of a Russian aristocrat was not measured by the amount 
of land, stock, buildings, or personal property, but by the 
number of male "souls" that he owned. Female "souls" 
were not counted as wealth. 

The Crown peasants were fairly well treated by the offi- 
cials; their holdings were larger and their dues and serv- 
ices lighter than those of the peasants on the private es- 
tates. The system in vogue in the latter divided the land 
into two parts: one was under the immediate ownership and 
cultivation, of the lord, while the other was cultivated by 
the serfs, dvorovye, who had the use but not the ownership 
of enough land to support their families. There were also 
the common lands, consisting of the meadows to which the 



RUSSIA 509 

peasants sent their cattle and the forests from which they 
cut wood. The methods of cultivation then practiced by 
the Russian peasants were very primitive. Farms consisted 
of strips in various fields; the three-field system, with one 
field lying fallow every three years, was still the custom ; the 
villagers worked in common largely under the direction of 
the mir, or village community. Scientific agriculture and 
the use of farming machinery, already advanced in Western 
Europe, was as yet entirely unknown in Russia. 

For the right to cultivate his strips of land the serf paid 
the proprietor dues and services. This was paid partly in 
money, called obrok, and partly in labor, gener- Dues and 
ally limited to three days a week on the pro- services of 
prietor's private estate. If the master had no 
need of a serf's labor, he would put him on obrok in town; 
that is, hire him out as a wage-earner and get part of his 
wages as dues. "The proprietor," so declared the law, "may 
impose on his serfs every kind of labor, may take from them 
money dues, and demand from them personal service, with 
this one restriction, that they shall not be thereby ruined, 
and that the number of days fixed by law shall be left to 
them for their own work." In addition, the proprietor could 
transfer his peasants to domestic service, inflict upon them 
corporal punishment short of death, have them sent to 
Siberia if he deemed them incorrigible, or have them drafted 
into the army. In order to marry, the serf had to have the 
consent of his master, and he could be ordered to marry 
whomever and whenever the master wished. Although the 
law tried to protect the serf from the extreme of tyranny, 
its enforcement was difficult in a country so poorly organ- 
ized as Russia and so completely under the influence of 
the landed aristocracy. The lord was generally the local 
justice of the peace, and the peasant, having few rights any- 
way, was legally at his mercy. The power to draft into the 
army was a terrible weapon in the hands of a tyrannical 
master who could, by this means, summarily remove a re- 
fractory peasant from his farm, home, and family. It was 
not unusual to sell a serf away from the estate in spite of 



510 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

law and custom which forbade such practices. Corporal 
punishment was a common form of chastisement in Russia 
for all sorts of offenses. The peasant was unmercifully 
beaten on all possible occasions, by the proprietor when he 
was behind in dues, by the government officials when he was 
behind in taxes, by the judge when he was disorderly. His 
only refuge was to get drunk. As in the case of the American 
slave-owners in the South before the Civil War, there were 
many kind-hearted and generous masters; but the absolute 
control of human beings, made possible by the institution 
of serfdom, inevitably led to outrageous abuses. The only 
barrier to the rapacity of a tyrannical master was the won- 
derful spirit of passive resistance developed by the Russian 
peasants, who would be beaten almost to death without re- 
vealing the hiding-place of the little money that they might 
have saved. The peasants often resorted to robbery, mur- 
der, house-burning, and even to rebellion to revenge them- 
selves on the proprietors. Many ran away to become tramps 
on the highways or pilgrims wandering to the numerous 
holy places in Russia. About two millions of serfs were 
domestics in household service, and these were slaves in all 
but name ; for over them even the law gave the master un- 
controlled power. 

Unlike the negro in America, the serf in Russia was of the 
same race as his master; hence, ardent patriots as well as 
Alexander's liberal humanitarians were in favor of his eman- 
wardeman- cipation. It was felt by thoughtful Russians 
cipation that the institution of serfdom was a blot on 
their country, and a powerful movement was started early 
in the nineteenth century to abolish it. Even Nicholas I 
himself fully recognized serfdom as a great evil ; but fearing 
that complete emancipation might violate the principle 
of property rights, he favored a gradual transition from 
bondage to freedom. Alexander II, soon after his accession, 
determined on a policy of immediate emancipation, not only 
because he was liberal and humane, but also because he 
thought that it was "better to abolish serfdom from above 
than to wait until it will be abolished by a movement from 



RUSSIA 511 

below." A secret investigation of the matter was entrusted 
by the Tsar to a Chief Committee for Peasant Affairs. 
A circular was also sent by the Government to leading offi- 
cials all over the Empire in which emancipation was openly 
broached. These efforts of Alexander were received with 
great enthusiasm among the Liberals, and found favor even 
among many landed proprietors. To those who opposed 
emancipation Alexander frankly stated that "serfdom was 
instituted by absolute power. Only absolute power can 
destroy it; and to do so is my will." Acting under the in- 
spiration of the Tsar, a committee composed of officials and 
nobles drew up the Emancipation Law, which was then is- 
sued as an ukase on March 3, 1861. This Magna Charta 
of the Russian peasants freed the serfs on the private es- 
tates only; two years later, those in domestic service were 
freed; and in 1866 the work of emancipation was com- 
pleted by the freeing of the Crown serfs. 

It is important to examine the main provisions of this 
famous law. These were: (1) that the serfs should at once 
receive full rights of citizenship and be subject The Eman- 
to the authority of the Government and not to cl P atlon Law 
that of the proprietor; (2) that the cottages, farm buildings, 
and implements which they had been using should belong 
to them; and (3) that allotments of land should be given 
to the freedmen in order to guarantee them the means of 
a livelihood. To have given the serfs freedom without land 
would have brought into existence an agricultural prole- 
tariat working for wages and therefore economically de- 
pendent upon their former owners. "Liberation without 
land," declared the Tsar, "has always ended in an increase 
of the proprietor's power." Moreover, the peasants them- 
selves would have strenuously objected to a landless free- 
dom, because, through generations of cultivating the soil, 
they had come to believe that they were actually its owners. 
"We are yours, but the land is ours," they used to say to 
the proprietors. 

How to apportion the land and on what terms were prob- 
lems very difficult to solve justly. About one half of the 



512 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

arable land of Russia passed from the lords to the peas- 
Division of ants; but in order to prevent the ruin of the 
the lands former, who were considered the bulwark of the 
State, the Government compensated them in full. To pay 
this enormous sum special taxes were laid on the freedmen 
who were to pay by this means for their newly gotten farms 
in yearly installments for a period of forty-nine years. 1 
The peasants were freed at their own cost, for they had to 
pay the price of emancipation by their own toil. To become 
in a sense the "serfs of the State" was not what they had 
bargained for; they had fondly imagined that emancipa- 
tion would give them land free of all charges. They also 
complained that the allotments came from the poorest por- 
tions of the estate, that the prices paid to the lords were 
too high, and that the portions of land given to them were 
too small. 2 The Government had indeed dealt rather gen- 
erously with the proprietors and rather niggardly with the 
peasants. There was great disappointment at the outcome, 
and rumors spread that a second emancipation was coming. 
In many places uprisings occurred which were, however, 
speedily suppressed. 

It must not be supposed that emancipation created a 
vast number of small peasant proprietors in Russia. Owner- 
„,, . ship of the allotments was vested in the mir, or 

village community, as a whole, which was re- 
sponsible for the payments to the Government and which 
divided the land among the various families. It was the 
Russian custom to have a redistribution of the land by the 
mir whenever two thirds of its members so desired. 3 The 
mir is not an institution peculiar to Russia alone, as Rus- 
sian patriots have so often and so enthusiastically declared, 
but a belated form of the village community which had 
once flourished all over Western Europe. Its membership 
is composed of the heads of families in the village, who elect 

1 The domestic serfs were given no land; hence they did not have to pay the 
special tax. Many remained in their old positions on wages. 

2 On the average, a peasant's allotment was from eight to eleven acres. The 
Crown serfs got larger portions and on more liberal terms. 

3 By a law of 1893 this could be done only once in twelve years. 



RUSSIA 513 

an elder called the starotsa, an official who represents the 
village in relation to the central Government, particularly 
in the matter of taxes. The mir decides when to plow, when 
to sow, and when to reap, and no one can leave the village, 
even for a short time, without its consent on pain of having 
his holding confiscated. 

The main results of the Edict of Emancipation were not 
seen for another generation. Many of the former serfs, es- 
pecially the domestics, left the estates to be- Outcome of 
come factory workers in the cities, and this emancipa- 
greatly accelerated the industrial development 
of Russia. The peasant, becoming free, became more dis- 
contented, and he was therefore prepared to play a great 
part in the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. As Russia is 
largely a peasant nation, a change in the status of the mass 
of the population was bound to influence the entire country 
for the better and to become the starting-point of many 
other reforms. 

Political Reforms 

The Tsar-Liberator was also willing to play the part of 
Tsar- Reformer. In 1 864 Alexander made important changes 
in the judicial and administrative systems of the New code 
Empire. The administration of justice in Russia of laws 
had been arbitrary, stupid, and corrupt. Emancipation had 
brought new lawsuits as well as new citizens, which necessi- 
tated the reorganization of the courts. A new code of laws 
was issued based largely on Western European models, espe- 
cially -on the judicial practices of England and France, which 
decreed equality of all classes before the law, introduced 
trial by jury in criminal cases with the exception of trials 
for political crimes, and guaranteed the independence of 
the magistrates by making them irremovable except for 
cause. 

The growth of city life, due to the advance of commerce 
and industry, and the growth of communal life, The 
due to emancipation, made necessary the intro- Zemstvos 
duction of some kind of local self-government. An ukase 



514 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

in 1864 called into existence local assemblies called the 
Zemstvos, made up of representatives of the various classes 
in the community. These bodies sent delegates to the pro- 
vincial Zemstvos which had jurisdiction over larger areas. 
The Zemstvos had charge of the schools, roads, asylums, 
hospitals, and agricultural improvements of the locality; 
but their powers were rather limited in scope, as the real 
authority rested in the hands of the government officials. 

Alexander was also liberal in educational matters. The 
restrictions placed by his father Nicholas on teaching were 
Educational removed. More students were admitted to the 
Reform universities, which were given large powers of 

self-government. Secondary education was organized on 
the German model, with Realschule, or scientific schools, 
and Gymnasia, or classical schools. The censorship of the 
press was greatly relaxed, and Russia began to breathe 
freely. 

The Polish Rebellion 

Poland had been conquered in 1832, but her national 
spirit had by no means been suppressed. It was kept alive 
^ L r> r v mainly by the nobles and the Catholic clergy, 

The Polish J J . 

Rebellion of who were constantly agitating for a restored 
1863 Polish nationality. Alexander was inclined to 

be liberal with the Poles, but he refused unconditionally 
to restore the constitution of 18 15 demanded by the Pol- 
ish patriots. Disaffection was rife and, as political organi- 
zations were forbidden, agricultural societies were formed 
which became centers of an anti-Russian agitation. In 1863 
an untimely and badly organized rebellion broke out, 
armed bands of patriots under the direction of a secret 
committee in Warsaw conducting a guerrilla warfare against 
the Russian forces. This second uprising of the Poles was 
crushed by the Government without much difficulty. 

It was now determined to Russify Poland completely, and 
the policy was mercilessly carried out. The use of the Polish 
language was forbidden except in private conversation ; even 
religious services had to be conducted in the Russian Ian- 



RUSSIA 515 

guage. To prevent a future recurrence of rebellion, the 
Tsar determined to destroy the influence of the confiscation 
clergy and nobility. Many monasteries were °, f la " ds °* 

, , , . r 1 a the Church 

suppressed and their property confiscated. A and of the 
commission formed in Petrograd was given the anstocrac y 
power of regulating the affairs of the Catholic Church in 
Poland. The heaviest blow fell upon the Polish aristocracy, 
who were regarded as the instigators of rebellion. Their 
tenants were given outright the lands which they culti- 
vated, without compensation to the proprietors; in addition, 
they were given the right to pasture cattle and to gather 
wood on the lord's estate. 1 Many of the nobles were ruined 
by these wholesale confiscations, and they failed to recover 
their once paramount influence. This radical legislation 
in favor of the Polish peasants had its desired result: they 
became cold to the idea of rebellion, although they were by 
no means reconciled to Russian domination. 

Unfortunately, the Polish rebellion had the effect of 
frightening Alexander into a policy of reaction. Like his 
predecessor, Alexander I, he was becoming con- Alexander 
vinced that a policy of liberalism, instead of becomes 

. ,. , „. . ., r^t reactionary 

quieting rebellion, was encouraging it. I he rev- 
olutionary movement in Russia was growing and becoming 
more and more violent. Several attempts were made to as- 
sassinate the Tsar, which convinced him all the more that 
repression was the only true policy. Moreover, the Russo- 
Turkis-h War of 1877 2 caused Alexander to revive the 
old dream of acquiring Constantinople and to forsake the 
new dream of an enlightened Russia. Reaction gained full 
swing. A strict censorship of the press was again estab- 
lished and the universities were once more put under sur- 
veillance. Suspects were seized and sentenced to prison, 
exile, or death with hardly a pretence of a regular trial. 
The "Nicholas System" was thus partially restored. 

1 The Polish peasants had been serfs until 1807, when they were liberated 
through Napoleon's influence; but, not having been given land, they remained 
on the estates as laborers or tenants. 

2 See p. 633. 



516 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Revolutionary Movement 

During the period of the Restoration in Western 
Europe there had existed a sharp divergence between re- 
Absolutism stored absolutism and the new system of so- 
harmomzed ciety that had come into being as a result of the 
sian social French and the Industrial Revolutions. The 
conditions political system based upon absolute monarchy 
was of the ancien regime but the social changes made by the 
French Revolution and the economic changes made by the 
Industrial Revolution were modern. Absolute monarchy 
was therefore an anachronism which could be maintained 
only by military force and was bound to go as soon as the 
new elements in society, the capitalists and the workingmen, 
made their power felt, which they did in the Revolution of 
1848. But no such divergence existed in Russia during the 
early part of the nineteenth century. There absolute mon- 
archy harmonized perfectly with an agricultural society 
based on serfdom, general ignorance, legal inequality, and 
religious persecution. In other words, Russia still had to 
go through her period of enlightenment as well as through 
her political and industrial revolutions before she could 
become a truly modern nation. 

During the middle of the nineteenth century a move- 
ment appeared in Russia which goes by the general name 
of Nihilism. Many Russians had traveled and 
studied abroad, and so had imbibed the ideas of 
the radical thinkers of Western Europe. When they con- 
templated their own country, with its autocratic govern- 
ment and medieval society, they recoiled in indignation, 
horror, and disgust. Nothing that was modern, nothing that 
was good, seemed to be present in Russia; on the contrary, 
everything was old and bad. It is, therefore, not surprising 
that they came to believe in Nihilism (from the Latin, nihil, 
nothing). "A Nihilist," says one of the characters in Tur- 
geniev's famous novel, Fathers and Sons, "is a man who 
does not bow before any authority whatsoever, does not 
accept a single principle on faith, with whatever respect 



RUSSIA 517 

that principle may be endowed." For the Nihilist, there- 
fore, every institution in Russia had to be destroyed in order 
to establish a new and better society. 

The most brilliant figure of this early revolutionary move- 
ment was Alexander Herzen, the son of a noble who, in 1857, 
founded a paper called the Kolokol {Tocsin), Alexander 
which he edited in London, where he was living Herzen 
in exile. Herzen attacked the Russian ancien regime with 
bitter satire, sparkling wit, and glowing eloquence. His pro- 
gram contemplated, as he expressed it, the freeing of speech 
from the censor, the peasant from the landowner, and the 
taxpayer from the knout. Like most of the early Nihilists, 
he was opposed to violent methods, and hoped to gain the 
desired reforms through peaceful agitation among the in- 
fluential classes. The Kolokol was widely read among edu- 
cated Russians; even the Tsar saw it daily, as a copy was 
regularly laid on his table by an unknown hand. A book 
which profoundly stirred the Russian youth was a kind of 
novel entitled What is to be Done? written by a Nihilist 
named Tchernesevsky, who preached the gospel of revolu- 
tion in vague, mystic terms, and for which he served a sen- 
tence of fourteen years at hard labor in Siberia. In the early 
seventies groups of highly educated men and women were 
organized under the inspiration of Nicholas Tchaikovsky 
to study history, economics, and sociology for the purpose 
of finding a peaceful solution of Russia's problems. 

Nihilism was essentially a literary and philosophic move- 
ment among the intelligentsia, as the Russian intellectuals 
are called, and among the "penitent noblemen," R ev olution- 
or those wealthy aristocrats who were conscience- af y P r °P a - 
stricken at the evil state of affairs from which among the 
they profited. It did not, however, satisfy many P easants 
ardent spirits who longed to be doing things instead of 
talking about them. It was generally understood that 
Russia would not progress very far unless the bulk of her 
people, the peasants, realized their own and their country's 
condition. Emancipation had freed them civilly, but they 
were still steeped in moral serfdom, as centuries of bond- 



518 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

age had left their evil impress on their minds and charac- 
ters. During the decade following 1870, there began the 
V Narod, or " Go-to-the-People" movement, 1 which aimed to 
leaven the mass by a revolutionary propaganda among the 
peasants. Nothing could exceed the self-sacrifice and daring 
of these enthusiasts, mainly young men and women of the 
upper classes, who longed to "melt into one" with the 
people and who became village doctors, school teachers, and 
even laborers, in order to spread the gospel of freedom. 

The Government was panic-stricken at the new activities 
of Young Russia and began making wholesale arrests, 
sparing nobody and stopping at nothing in order to destroy 
the movement. Hundreds of men and women of the finest 
type languished in prison or spent a lonely exile in the wilds 
of Siberia. Many fled to Switzerland, which became a 
haven for the Russian refugee. The conduct of the peas- 
ants toward their would-be liberators was anything but 
friendly. These simple people were shocked and angered by 
the denunciation of the Tsar, whom they loved and re- 
vered as the "Little Father," and would often themselves 
hand the propagandists over to the police. 

Disappointed with the attitude of the peasants and 
exasperated by police persecution, Young Russia resolved 
. upon a short cut to its hopes by a "propaganda 

of deed," and the revolutionary movement en- 
tered on a new phase, terrorism. In 1879 was organized 
the Narodnaya Volya, or the "People's Will" movement, 
which issued a stirring manifesto demanding complete 
democracy in government, full freedom of speech and of 

1 It is vividly described by Stepniak in the following way: "With the spring 
of 1874 all discussion abruptly ceased among the circles of the revolutionary 
youth. The time for talking was over: actual 'work' was in contemplation. 
The working-people's gear — boots, shirts, etc. — were hurriedly being pre- 
pared. Short greetings and laconic answers were heard: 'Whither?' 'To the 
Urals,' 'To the Volga,' 'To the South,' 'To the river of Don,' and so on. . . . 
There were warm wishes for success, and robust squeezings of hands. . . . 
'The spring is ending; it is high time.' . . . And so like an electric spark, the 
cry, 'To the people,' ran through the youth. Sure of themselves, daring and 
wide-awake, though unarmed and unorganized, they dashed in full sight of 
the enemy into the storm." (Quoted in Russia and its Crisis, by Paul Miliu- 
kov, p. 406.) 



RUSSIA 519 

association, the maintenance of the mir as an independ- 
ent communal institution, and the giving of the land to the 
peasants and of the factories to the workingmen. It openly- 
declared war to the death against the Government, and it 
resolved to employ all methods, peaceful and violent, for it 
believed that to destroy tsarism all means were permissible. 
Terrorism was based on the idea that the Government could 
be frightened into making concessions by terrorizing the 
officials. A war of assassination was initiated by a daring 
group of cool, determined, and utterly fearless men and wo- 
men who resolved neither to take nor to give quarter. High 
officials, both civil and military, especially those of the 
Third Section, were assassinated, and every one connected 
with the Government stood in danger of bomb, bullet, and 
dagger. Like all violence, Russian terrorism was the coun- 
sel of desperation and, as we shall see, it led not to re- 
form but to reaction. It was, however, the expression of 
the natural exasperation of intelligent men and women with 
an unintelligent Government. 

The most fanatical of the terrorists was Michael Ba- 
kunin, the "apostle of destruction," who desired nothing 
less than the complete overturn of all govern- Activities of 
ment in order to establish a new society based * he terror - 

ists 

upon anarchist ideals. 1 He spent many years in 
prison and in exile. He was once condemned to death, but 
he managed to escape to foreign countries, where he was 
active in organizing popular revolts. Another terrorist, 
who went by the name of Sergius Stepniak, assassinated the 
chief of the Third Section and escaped to Italy, where he 
wrote his interesting volume, Underground Russia, which 
gives a vivid description of the activities of the revolu- 
tionists. Another, Vera Zasulitch, who became a terrorist 
while a high-school girl, attempted to assassinate General 
Trepov, the chief of the Petrograd police. Her arrest 
aroused widespread interest, and she was acquitted chiefly 
because it was discovered that Trepov was unscrupulous 
and corrupt. Secret societies that hatched conspiracies, 

1 See p. 597. 



520 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

circulated books and pamphlets, and organized demonstra- 
tions flourished in the face of police vigilance. The Govern- 
ment finally took vigorous action against "Underground 
Russia." A state of siege was practically declared for the 
entire country. Liberty of speech was rigidly suppressed, 
and any one suspected of being in the slightest way sym- 
pathetic with revolution was imprisoned, exiled, or execu- 
ted without trial. Alexander II became the shining mark for 
the conspirators, because in their opinion he had betrayed 
the cause of political freedom by not going far enough in his 
reform measures. Three unsuccessful attempts were made 
upon his life. In one of these, a terrorist disguised as a car- 
penter blew up a part of the Winter Palace, killing ten per- 
sons; the Tsar escaped only because he came late to dinner. 
Compelled to action by these events, he was seriously consid- 
ering a plan to convoke a Russian parliament. He had 
already commissioned his Minister, Loris-Melikov, to draw 
up a constitution, when he was assassinated, on March 31, 
1 88 1, by two terrorists who threw bombs at his carriage 
as he was driving through the streets of the capital. 

The Russian Novel 

It was not until the nineteenth century that great writers 
began to appear in Russia, which, until then, had made 
Late ap- little or no contribution to the world's literature. 
RuSan^it- Like unknown planets suddenly flashing forth 
erature their brilliance in the heavens, a group of Rus- 

sian novelists appeared who astounded the world by their 
striking originality, moral depth, and literary art. "Rus- 
sian literature," declares a well-known critic, "is the voice of 
a giant, waking from a long sleep, and becoming articulate. 
It is as though the world had watched this giant's deep slum- 
ber for a long time, wondering what he would say when he 
awakened. And what 'he has said has been well worth the 
thousand years of waiting." 1 

It is in the domain of prose fiction that these authors ex- 
cel, and the novels of Turgeniev, Dostoievsky, and Tolstoy 

1 W. Lyon Phelps, Essays on Russian Novelists, p. 2. 



RUSSIA 521 

almost immediately took first rank as works of literature. 
Fiction has been the best medium for analyz- Russian 
ing human motives and describing social con- fictlon 
ditions ; and the Russian writers displayed such freedom and 
largeness in portraying man as an individual and as a social 
being that they have been given an undisputed place as 
the masters of Realism. No motive is so hidden that they 
cannot reveal it to the pitying gaze of humanity ; no society 
is so complex that they cannot unravel its strands of good 
and evil. They rise to the loftiest heights of moral grandeur 
and sublime idealism, and they shrink at nothing in strip- 
ping bare the human soul in its deepest degradation. 

Ivan Turgeniev (1818-83) lived most of his life in France 
and Germany and was greatly influenced by the culture 
of Western Europe, above all by that of France. ^ 

1 urgeniev 

His work is characterized by a most exquisite 
art, and few writers in any language have equaled Turge- 
niev' s power of evoking a whole society by a delicate touch 
or suggestion, so that the moral is brought home with strik- 
ing effect. This is notably true in The Diary of a Sports- 
man, which consists of sketches of peasant life before the 
Emancipation. Instead of denouncing the evils of serfdom, 
the author merely portrays the serfs in their ordinary rou- 
tine life ; but so real and true were these portraits that the 
book was a powerful influence in the freeing of the serfs. 
In Rudin the Russian national type finds its classical ex- 
pression. Keen in thought, eloquent in word, the hero, 
Rudin, yet remains incapable of sustained effort, for he can 
be roused to action only by sudden passion. An atmos- 
phere of "tender gloom" pervades Turgeniev's master- 
piece, Fathers and Sons, in which is described the struggle 
between the older and the younger generations. The hero, 
Bazarov, is a brilliant Nihilist at war with the ideals of the 
older generation, but who has no plans or even constructive 
ideas for a new society. 

Feodor Dostoievsky (1821-81), the painter of saints, 
outcasts, criminals, and madmen, was pursued by poverty 
and ill-health all his life. At the age of twenty-eight he was 



522 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

condemned to death on the charge of rebellion, but just 
_ . as he was about to be executed the sentence 

Dostoievsky . ,.«.'. 

was reprieved to four years exile in Siberia. 
Dostoievsky is the creator and supreme master of the psy- 
chologic novel which aims to diagnose the mind as a phy- 
sician does the body. His most famous book, Crime and 
Punishment, tells the story of a poor student, Raskolni- 
kov, who deliberately murders an old woman because he 
feels that he is able to put her money to better use than 
she can. The planning and execution of the crime and the 
attempts of the murderer to escape detection are described 
with a minuteness and a piercing analysis of motives that 
border on the morbid. Raskolnikov feels no remorse, but 
only regret for his crime, which he considers a misfortune 
deserving of sympathy, not condemnation. In this book the 
author shows extraordinary mastery over the emotions of 
terror and pity. His most frequent theme is the sublimity 
of human suffering, which to his "mystic Slavic soul" 
means the redemption of mankind. 

Count Leo Tolstoy (i 828-1 910) was the literary colossus 
of Russia during the latter half of the nineteenth century. 
_ . His extraordinary art, his views on life and re- 

ligion, and his character as a man made a pro- 
found impression on the whole world, and he has been the 
most widely read of all the Russian authors. A novel by 
this author-preacher consists of a series of incidents rather 
than of a continuous narrative, with a great theme instead of 
a plot as the connecting link. Tolstoy is at his best in describ- 
ing critical moments in the life of a nation or of an individ- 
ual. His historical novel, War and Peace, is a colossal prose 
epic, a modern Iliad, which treats of Russian conditions in 
the time of the Napoleonic invasion. Like that of a Greek 
tragedy, the leading theme of this book is that, when ele- 
mental forces are let loose, individuals are only the play- 
things of fate. Circumstances, not leaders, determine the 
outcome of great combats; therefore a true leader is one 
who, like the Russian general, Kutusov, does not attempt 
to hinder the inexorable laws of destiny, but allows them 



RUSSIA 523 

free play. Tolstoy's masterpiece is undoubtedly Anna Kare- 
nina, the theme of which is that happiness comes only to 
those who are engaged in doing good to others. The novel 
tells the story of two couples : in one case, the lovers, pas- 
sionately devoted to each other and seeking their own 
happiness only, find their fate in misery and death; in 
the other, the lovers, devoting themselves to the welfare 
of the community in which they live, find that happiness 
which they sought to bring to others. With amazing art the 
author reveals the souls of men and women as they drift 
onward to their destiny, himself moved by compassion 
almost as great as that found in the Gospels. 

A profound change gradually came into the life of Tol- 
stoy. The novelist turned preacher and reformer. He came 
to the conclusion that modern civilization is a failure, that 
religion has been corrupted by the Church, law by govern- 
ment, teaching by schools, and love by marriage. Simpli- 
fication of life became his first aim, but his solution of the 
problem was not a return to nature as preached by Rousseau, 
but a return to the Christianity that Christ preached. He 
then became a "seeker after God," and sought salvation in 
poverty, humility, and peace. Tolstoy was a thorough be- 
liever in the doctrine of non-resistance and in the theory 
that bloodshed, whether of manor of animal, is wicked under 
any and all circumstances. He strongly opposed war, capital 
punishment, and the slaughter of animals for food. The 
common peasant alone, according to this Russian seer, had 
achieved true happiness and understanding; therefore he de- 
termined to live the life of a common peasant. He deeded 
all of his property to his wife but continued to live in 
his old home. He dressed in the rough blouse of a peas- 
ant, worked daily in the fields or in the shop, and ate the 
simple fare of the common man. His home, Iasnaya Poly- 
ana, became a place of pilgrimage for people from all over 
the world. 



CHAPTER XXII 

RUSSIA AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 
Reign of Alexander III (1881-94) 

The assassination of the Tsar-Liberator shocked the 
liberals no less than it did the conservatives. In spite of 
Manifesto the reaction during the latter part of his reign, 
of revolu- Alexander II had done almost as much as his 

tionists to _, , _ , _, 

the new great ancestor, Peter the Great, to make Russia 
Tsar a true member of the European family of civilized 

nations. If this was to be the fate of a liberal Tsar, what 
then was in store for a reactionary one? To the new Em- 
peror, Alexander III, the revolutionists issued a warning 
manifesto, which declared that imprisonment, exile, and 
death would not stop them from prosecuting their aim of 
establishing democratic government in Russia; that auto- 
cracy was an evil, whether the autocrat was good or bad; 
that there were only two ways of establishing democracy: 
one, through a bloody revolution which would result in 
needless waste of blood and energy that could be better 
used for the welfare of Russia; the other, through the volun- 
tary action of the Tsar in granting a general amnesty for all 
political crimes, and, especially, by summoning a repre- 
sentative assembly. The revolutionists promised to submit 
unconditionally to the will of a constitutional government. 
In a manifesto, issued March 23, 1881, the new Tsar indi- 
cated plainly enough what his future policies were to be. 
"The Voice of God," he declared, "orders us to stand firm at 
the helm of government . . .with faith in the strength and 
truth of the autocratic power, which we are called upon to 
strengthen and preserve for the good of the people." Shortly 
afterwards, he called upon his faithful subjects "to strive 
for the extirpation of the heinous agitation which has dis- 
graced the land." "Gentlemen, rise! A government is now 
coming in!" exclaimed the reactionary Katkov. 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 525 

Alexander III resembled in many ways his grandfather, 
Nicholas I. Like him, he was a soldier both by training 
and by temperament ; and like him, also, he was Alexan- 
a man of unimpeachable personal integrity, a der ni 
devoted husband and father, and a loyal friend. Although 
Alexander possessed the will power, he did not have the 
ability of his despotic grandfather. He was moderately 
educated, rather dull, narrow-minded, and stubborn, but 
intensely Russian in his sympathies and prejudices. Men- 
tally, the new Tsar was a peasant raised to the royal estate. 

The power behind the throne and the most influential 
man in the Russian Government during his reign was 
the former tutor of the Tsar, Pobiedonostsev, Pobiedo- 
who was appointed Procurator of the Holy Synod, nostsev 
or civil head of the official Orthodox Church. This power- 
ful official hated democracy in any and all forms, thoroughly 
and consistently. According to Pobiedonostsev, who was a 
very highly educated and intelligent man, the institutions of 
Western Europe and of America ought to serve as a warn- 
ing, and not as a model, for Russia. Democracy, he declared, 
was a sham employed by the rich and the cunning with 
which to ensnare the simple-minded : a free press meant the 
free dissemination of lies and calumnies; religious toleration 
meant division in the Church and rebellion in the State. Of 
all the nations of the world Russia alone had remained un- 
spoiled; under the protecting care of her benevolent auto- 
cracy and of the Orthodox Church reigned peace, love, and 
true religion. 

In this connection it is important to understand the ideas 
of a small but powerful group of Russian thinkers who 
called themselves Slavophiles. 1 As we have al- Russian 

j t> • l c 1 • interpreta- 

ready seen, Russia, because of adverse circum- tions of Rus- 
stances, had lagged behind the other nations of sia 
Europe in the march of civilization. What was a misfor- 
tune became a philosophy. To some Russians the peculiar 

1 Among the adherents of Slavophilism were Karamzin, the noted historian; 
Katkov, the popular editor of the Moscow Gazette; Miliutin, the adviser of 
Alexander II; and Pobiedonostsev. 



526 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

history of their country meant that she was destined to de- 
velop a civilization wholly different from Western Europe; 
therefore, she, too, had a " mission" in the world. Early 
in the nineteenth century discussion raged over the ques- 
tion, "What is Russia?" The Nihilists declared that she 
was "virgin soil," a land fortunate in having no history; 
hence a tabula rasa upon which the future was free to write. 
"Not at all," replied the Slavophiles; "we are an old na- 
tion with a distinct type of government, benevolent auto- 
cracy, with a distinct type of religion, the Orthodox Church, 
and with a distinct type of communal life, the mir. Western 
Europe is decadent, rotting from rationalism in religion, 
revolution in politics, and class hatred in society; hence 
Russia can borrow nothing from other nations except their 
vices." "You are both wrong," replied the Zdpadniki, or the 
champions of Western culture; "Russia is merely back- 
ward in her development; those institutions which she 
thinks original and peculiar to her are like those which 
existed in the rest of Europe in times past, and the more she 
progresses the more like Western Europe she will become." 
Because of national vanity and the support of the Govern- 
ment, Slavophilism had the best of the situation, even if 
it did not have the best of the argument. This movement 
later on assumed a more militant form known as Pan- 
Slavism, or the union of all the Slavic peoples under the 
hegemony of Russia. By their opponents the Slavophiles 
were ridiculed as a small group of "Old Believers" in pol- 
itics, who tried to cover up an evil system of government 
and society by romantic appeals to an imaginary past. The 
one great service of the Slavophiles was helping in the 
emancipation of the peasants, whom they regarded as the 
only true Russian people. 

Alexander III surrounded himself with a group of re- 
actionary Ministers, chief among whom were Count Igna- 
Reactionary t ^ ev an< ^ Count Dmitri Tolstoy. Loris-Melikov 
measures of was dismissed and his constitution was rejected. 
War to the death was now declared by the Gov- 
ernment against terrorism, and the "Nicholas System" 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 527 

was fully restored. All of Russia was practically placed 
under martial law. The assassins of Alexander II were exe- 
cuted, and revolutionists were sentenced to imprisonment, 
exile, or death by "administrative process," a form of 
court-martial which superseded the regular court trials. 
Thousands found in Siberian wilds their eternal abiding- 
place; thousands more fled to Switzerland, France, and 
America. Education in particular felt the heavy hand of 
reaction. The universities were deprived of the self-govern- 
ment granted to them by Alexander II. To the Minister 
of Education, the reactionary Count Tolstoy, was given 
almost complete power of appointing, promoting, and dis- 
missing professors and of regulating the conduct of the stu- 
dents inside and outside of the classrooms. A severe press 
law was enacted which practically prohibited the existence 
of any but conservative journals. After three warnings a 
refractory newspaper was suppressed. Even the moderate 
Zemstvos were suspected, and some of the powers hitherto 
enjoyed by these assemblies were given to "land captains" 
appointed in each district. By these methods the revolu- 
tionary and liberal elements were either driven "under- 
ground" into secret agitation, or harried out of the coun- 
try. During the entire reign of Alexander III terroristic 
activities were in abeyance, agitation ceased, and Russia 
was once more "frozen." 

Next to the revolutionaries the non-Russians in the 
Empire provoked Alexander's strong resentment. "One 
Russia, one Creed, one Tsar," was to him a liv- Persecutions 
ing motto, and there began a ruthless Russifi- PrusSanTin 
cation of the subject races by means of force the Empire 
and coercion. The first to suffer were the Jews, who aroused 
Alexander's fury because of their resistance to assimilation 
and conversion. In 1890 an attack was made on the au- 
tonomy of Finland by attempts to make the postal, mone- 
tary, and fiscal systems of the Grand Duchy comply with 
those in Russia. All Finnish officials were henceforth obliged 
to have a knowledge of the Russian language. In the Baltic 
Provinces where German culture was dominant, Russian 



528 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

was likewise made the official language, and the University 
of Dorpat was converted from a German to a Russian insti- 
tution. In Poland, the use of the native language was pro- 
hibited in all the educational institutions. 

Alexander prided himself on being a "Peasants' Tsar," 
and he did, to some extent, interest himself in the welfare 
Favorable of the peasants. The Emancipation Law was 
for'the'peas- faithfully carried out, and during some years the 
ants redemption tax was remitted. In 1883 the 

Government founded the Peasants' Bank, the object 01 
which was to advance money at low rates of interest to 
peasants in order to enable them to tide over bad years. 
A Nobles' Bank was also founded with the similar object 
of helping the landed proprietors out of financial difficulties. 
In 1894 the Government established a state monopoly in 
the manufacture and sale of liquor, primarily for the pur- 
pose of having a new source of revenue, but also with the 
object of limiting the sale of a particularly intoxicating 
liquor called vodka, to which the peasants were greatly 
addicted. 

Races in Russia 

Russia, called the "adopted child" of Europe, has been 
and still is the enigma of Western civilization. Her archaic 
social system, her devout attitude toward religion, the 
amazing simplicity of her masses, and the still more amaz- 
ing idealism and originality of her intellectual classes have 
made Russia a land of mystery and of wonder to West- 
ern Europeans and Americans. As a recent traveler well 
says: "Russia possesses the variety of the ages. Men and 
women, with the thoughts of the fourth century, the fif- 
teenth or the eighteenth in their hearts, jostle others who 
are eager to cure the ills of mankind with the latest political 
and social nostrums of the twentieth. People of all periods 
rub shoulders, like the dancers in a masquerade. If one 
wants to know what an Anglo-Saxon villein was, it is more 
to the point to talk to a Russian peasant than to rummage in 
the libraries. The pilgrims, dressed like Tannhauser in the 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 529 

third act, with staves in their hands and wallets at their 
sides, who wander through Russia on their way to pray at 
the Holy Sepulcher, belong to the age of the Crusades. The 
ascetic who spends his life in prayer and fasting and wears 
chains about his body seems to have found his way into 
modern Russia from the Egyptian Thebai'd of the fourth 
century." So writes one, Rothay Reynolds. 

Russia, unlike England and France, is not a homogeneous 
nation; it is an empire inhabited by a conglomeration of 
many national groups, varying from Mongolian The Slavic 
tribes on the Pacific Coast to Germans living on inhabitants 
the shores of the Baltic, all bound together by a highly cen- 
tralized Government under an autocratic Tsar. The bulk 
of the inhabitants are the Russian Slavs, who number about 
84,000,000 out of a total population of about 1 29,000,000. x 
These Russian Slavs are divided into three branches, the 
Great Russians, the Little Russians, or Ukrainians, and the 
White Russians. The first, numbering about 55,500,000, is 
the largest group and inhabits the great central plain known 
as "Great Russia." This region, of which Moscow was once 
the capital and is now the principal city, is the ancient 
home of the Russian people. The Ukrainians, numbering 
over 22,000,000, live in that part of the south known as 
"Little Russia," of which the principal city is Kiev. Al- 
though they are of the same racial stock as the Great Rus- 
sians, the Ukrainians speak a slightly different language, or 
dialect. The White Russians are a group of about 6,000,000 
who live in some of the western provinces, intermingled 
largely with Lithuanians, Poles, and Jews. 

The inhabitants of Siberia, numbering about 10,000,000, 
are mainly the native Mongolian tribes and Russian colo- 
nists. In Central Asia, or Russian Turkestan, the Non-Slavic 
people, chiefly nomads, are closely related to the races in the 
Afghans. In European Russia there are about 
14,000,000 Tartars, Mohammedans in religion, who inhabit 
Crimea and the southeastern provinces. In the Govern- 

1 The figures here given are from the census taken in 1897; to-day (19 1 8) the 
total population of the Empire is reckoned at about 175,000,000. 



530 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ments of Bessarabia and Kherson, near the Rumanian 
frontier, there are over a million Moldavians, who are 
closely allied in language, religion, and customs with the 
people of Rumania. In the Caucasus there are about 2,000,- 
000 Georgians and Armenians, with distinctive customs 
and traditions of their own. The Lithuanians number about 
1,500,000, and are to be found principally in the prov- 
ince of Lithuania, which also contains large numbers of 
Jews and Poles. 

The population of the Baltic Provinces Esthonia, Li- 
vonia, and Courland are Letts and Esths, who are the 
Races in original inhabitants of the country, and Germans, 
the Baltic who are descendants of the German colonists 
that came to conquer and to Christianize this 
region during the Middle Ages. The latter belong to the 
upper and middle classes and dominate the Letts and Esths 
upon whom they imposed the Lutheran faith. Between 
the native peasants and their German landlords there has 
been constant friction, which has at times resulted in riots 
and which led to a civil war on a small scale during the 
Revolution of 1905. These Baltic Germans form a small 
but highly important element in Russian life. From their 
ranks came many of the high officials in the Empire, both 
civil and military, who gave loyal service to the Tsar rather 
than to Russia, and for which they were amply rewarded. 

Finland, as we have seen, was acquired from Sweden in 

1808. The bulk of the inhabitants, who number about 

3,000,000, are Finns, a race supposedly non- 

The Finns . .. A • 1 • 1 t~> 1 • 

European in origin. As is the case in the Baltic 
Provinces, an alien race, the Swedes, dominate the native 
Finns, upon whom they imposed the Lutheran faith. Be- 
tween the Finns and the Swedes an unfriendly feeling has 
existed, of which the Russian Government frequently took 
advantage in order to control the province. 

The population of Russian Poland is about 10,000,000, 

of whom the Polish Slavs, who are Roman 

The Poles _, , ,. ... . . 

Catholic in religion, constitute three quarters; 
the rest are Jews and Russians. The great change in the 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 531 

system of landholding in Poland which came as a result 
of the rebellion of 1863 has already been described. 1 It 
resulted in creating over four millions of peasant proprietors, 
whose average holding is about twenty acres, a quantity 
far larger than that of the Russian peasant. 

During the latter part of the nineteenth century there 
began an industrial development in Poland which has trans- 
formed the country from a purely agricultural i nc j ustr i a i 
to a semi-manufacturing region. This was due development 
partly to the geographical position of Poland 
which makes her a convenient trade route between Western 
Europe and Russia, partly to her coal and iron deposits, 
and partly to the commercial activities of the large Jewish 
population settled within her borders. During the first 
decade of the twentieth century Poland produced one 
seventh of the entire industrial output of the Russian Em- 
pire, Russia proper constituting a large market for Polish 
manufactures. The cities of Lodz and Sosnovice are great 
cotton centers, almost rivaling in importance some of the 
textile cities of Lancashire, in England. The engineering 
works and beet-sugar refineries of Warsaw, as well as its tex- 
tile mills, have made that historic city an industrial beehive. 

These great changes called into existence a powerful 
middle class which favored local autonomy under Russia 
rather than national independence. They feared Friendliness 
that a separation from the Empire might lead of Poles to : 
to hostile tariff legislation by Russia, which 
would ruin Polish industries. In 1896, when Tsar Nicholas 
II visited Warsaw, he was accorded a warm welcome, quite 
an unusual thing for a Russian Tsar to receive in Poland. 
In 1907 the Polish members in the Duma openly declared 
themselves in favor of Poland as "an inseparable part of 
the Russian Empire." 

Anti-Jewish Legislation 

Fully five million Jews, nearly a half of the entire Jewish 
race, live under the Russian flag. Russia acquired this large 

1 See p. 515- 



532 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Jewish population largely as a result of the partition of 
the old Kingdom of Poland at the end of the eighteenth 
century; the parts which fell to her share had been a Jewish 
settlement for centuries. 

Almost from the very start, repressive measures began, 
and the Jews were soon aware that the semi-tolerance of 
Repressive the Polish kings was giving place to the intoler- 
against e the ance °f ^he Russian Tsars. It was the policy 
Jews of the latter to restrict the Jews to certain west- 

ern provinces, which became known as the " Pale of Jewish 
Settlement." During the reign of Nicholas I harsh laws 
were continually enacted against the Jews. Most of these 
laws were repealed or not enforced under the mild rule of 
Alexander II, and the Jews enjoyed some of their former 
freedom. Many became assimilated completely in the 
general life of the Russian people and almost forgot that 
they were Jews. 

When Alexander III ascended the throne a definite anti- 
Jewish policy was inaugurated which was followed consist- 
Harsh atti- ently for over a generation. The declared ob- 
tudeof Alex- j ec t Q f this policy, ascribed to Pobiedonostsev, 

ander III to- J , , t • , 11 1 r • 

ward the was to solve the Jewish problem by forcing one 
J ews third to emigrate, by converting one third to the 

Orthodox Church, and by harrying the remaining third to 
destruction. This attitude was inspired by the Slavophile 
idea that the Jew was and would ever be an alien in religion, 
race, and traditions. Although they constituted only four 
per cent of the population of the Empire, it was feared 
by the Government that, under a system of equal rights, 
the Jews would soon rise to power and influence because of 
their intellectual attainments and their extraordinary ca- 
pacity for business. As the Jews were inclined to be liberal 
in politics, their influence threatened to undermine abso- 
lute government; hence they were regarded with uncon- 
cealed enmity by the autocracy. 

In 1 88 1 a series of sporadic anti-Jewish riots took place 
which caused Alexander III to appoint a commission to 
study the Jewish question. The recommendations of this 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 533 

commission were embodied in the celebrated " May Laws " 
of 1882 which were enacted through the influence The "May 
of the Minister of the Interior, Count Ignatiev. Laws " 
This anti-Jewish code contained many restrictions on Jews 
in regard to residence, occupation, and education. 

The "Pale," consisting of fifteen Governments in western 
and southwestern Russia and the ten Governments of Po- 
land, was declared to be the only place of legal _ 1IT> , „ 

. , . 1 I- •' r t a- • Tne Pale 

residence in the Empire lor Jews. An immense 

ghetto was thus constituted in which dwelt ninety-five per 
cent of the Jews of Russia., Deprived of the elementary hu- 
man right of living where they pleased, thousands were torn 
from their homes in all parts of the country and confined to 
the "Pale." 1 Residence within the "Pale" itself was not 
altogether unrestricted. Jews were forbidden to move from 
cities to villages; they were thus compelled to live in cities, 
where they congregated in large numbers. Those who had 
already been settled in villages were permitted to remain 
there under many petty and annoying restrictions. 

The special privilege of living outside of the "Pale" was 
granted only to Jews who were graduates of higher institu- 
tions of learning, to professional men, wealthy j ews out _ 
merchants, artisans, and "Nicholas soldiers." 2 side the 

"Pale" 

Except in the case of the last class, this privilege 
did not extend to their children, who were obliged to leave 
their homes as soon as they came of age, unless they could 
qualify under the law on their own part. Foreign Jews were 
forbidden to travel in Russia regardless of passports ob- 
tained from the Government of which they were citizens. 3 
Jews were denied the opportunity for higher education 
even though they might have the means to obtain it. En- 
trance of Jews to the Gymnasia and universities Educational 
was limited to a definite proportion of the student restnctlons 
body. Within the "Pale" it was ten per cent; outside of the 
"Pale" it was five per cent, except in Petrograd and Mos- 

1 In 1891 over ten thousand Jews were expelled from Moscow. 

2 Jews who had enlisted in the army in the reign of Nicholas I. 

3 The failure to recognize the American passport caused the United States to 
abrogate the existing treaty with Russia in 191 1. 



534 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cow, where it was three per cent. Those who had the means 
went to Germany or to France for their higher education; 
the others entered into fierce competition with one another 
for the few coveted places available in Russian institutions 
of learning. Although the laws were more liberal as regards 
the elementary schools, few Jews attended them ; the large 
majority were taught in semi-religious schools maintained 
by the Jews themselves, where they received religious train- 
ing and a knowledge of the Hebrew and Yiddish languages. 

All public employments of whatever nature were closed 
to the Jews. 1 Even in those cities where they constituted a 
Civil dis- majority, they did not have the right to vote 
abilities £ or memD ers of the town council; the Governor 

of the district usually appointed a limited number of Jews' 
to these bodies to represent the Jewish community. No 
Jew could become a lawyer unless he got special permis- 
sion from the Minister of Justice; very few received this 
permission. In these ways the Jews were deprived of the 
elementary right of citizenship, although they were later 
permitted, with certain restrictions to vote for mem- 
bers of the Duma. 

No Jew was permitted to buy or lease land in the rural 
districts anywhere in Russia. The purpose of this was 
Economic to prevent the Jews from becoming competitors 
disabilities Q f t ^ e p easan t s in the cultivation of the land. 
Hindrances to their industrial progress were also created 
by laws limiting the number of Jewish stockholders in in- 
dustrial corporations. 

In the matter of rights, the Jews were regarded as aliens 
by the Russian law; but when it came to duties, they were 
Duties of full citizens. They were required to serve in the 
J ews army although they were not permitted to be- 

come officers. In addition to the ordinary taxes, they were 
required to pay special taxes on meat prepared according 
to the Jewish rite and on candles used for the Sabbath 
service. 

Not only did the laws weigh heavily on the Jews, but 

1 Exception was made in the case of army doctors, many of whom were Jews. 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 535 

they were capriciously enforced, because every official in- 
terpreted them as he saw fit. In fact, it was often How the 
well-nigh impossible to enforce the innumerable Lws were h 
exceptional laws; hence they were frequently enforced 
evaded, and so became a prolific source of corruption. 
Bribery of officials was the only possible relief from this 
intolerable situation. Outside of the "Pale" there were 
many "unlicensed" Jews and others with doubtful claims 
to residence, who lived in constant fear of being driven 
off. The status of the Jew being that of a semi-outlaw, he 
led a precarious existence under the watchful eye of the 
police. When the anti-Jewish feeling was particularly acute, 
raids would be organized against "unlicensed Jews"; 
homes were invaded by the police at night, and men and 
women torn from their slumber and driven out of town. 
Some were later allowed to return on payment of a bribe. 
Sometimes a town within the "Pale" would be declared a 
"village," and a wholesale expulsion of Jews would follow. 

To this fearful persecution the Jews opposed a policy 
of passive resistance. "Infirm of body, but firm of mind," 
they resolved to weather this storm as they had p ass ; ve re - 
so many others by clinging all the more firmly sistance of 
to their religion and traditions, and by relying 
upon their solidarity to break the force of the laws meant 
for their destruction. Thousands fled to foreign lands, par- 
ticularly to America, cherishing undying hatred for the Rus- 
sian Government. 1 

Crowded in the cities of the "Pale," these five million 
Jews lived in a condition of wretched poverty. Most of 
them gained a meager livelihood as small shop- Poverty of 
keepers, pedlers, tailors, and cobblers. So the J ews 
small were many of the shops and so keen the competition 
that there developed among the Russian Jews a proletarian 
middle class who eked out an existence from their "stores," 
which often consisted of a few articles placed on a counter. 

The Russian persecution had the effect of turning the 

1 Between 1880 and 1900 over a million and a half Jews left Russia, most of 
them going to the United States. 



536 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

thoughts of Jews the world over to the idea of establishing 
. . an independent Jewish nation in a territory of 

their own. Under the leadership of Theodor 
Herzl, a Viennese Jew, an interesting movement, known as 
"Zionism," was launched, which aims to create in Palestine 
a legally secured home for the Jewish people, where they 
may be free to develop their national ideals. Since 1897 
international Zionist Congresses have been held annually 
to promote this project. Agricultural colonies and educa- 
tional institutions have been established in Palestine by the 
Zionists, who hope in this manner to prepare the way for 
the return of the Jewish people to their ancient home. 

The Orthodox Church 

No people in Europe are so devoutly religious as the 
Russians. Almost every home contains an ikon, or saint's 
The Rus- image, before which prayers are said daily. All 
sians an in- over the country there are innumerable shrines 

tensely re- 
ligious peo- which are visited by thousands of pilgrims. 

p Holy days are faithfully observed and church 

services are rarely, if ever, neglected. The simplicity and 
the unquestioning faith of the peasants in particular often 
find expression in acts of supreme kindness and devotion 
as well as in superstitious practices and beliefs. In 191 1 
the world was startled by a public trial in Russia of a Jew 
named Mendel Beiliss on the charge of murdering a Christian 
boy, in order to use his blood for the purposes of a rite sup- 
posedly required by the Jewish faith. Although Beiliss was 
acquitted, the case was an indication that the "ritual mur- 
der" myth, long exploded in Western Europe, was still be- 
lieved by many Russians in the twentieth century. 

The official Orthodox Church is an offshoot of the By- 
zantine Church of ancient times, from which it derived most 
of its doctrines and ritual. The services are conducted in 
The Ortho- a language known as Church Slavish, an old 
dox Church Slavic dialect resembling modern Bulgarian. It 
is governed by a commission of high ecclesiastical officials 
known as the Holy Synod, presided over by a layman called 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 537 

the Procurator, who is a direct appointee of the Govern- 
ment. To be a member of the Orthodox Church was to the 
average Russian the only true test of patriotism; to him, 
Church and State were not merely united, they were one 
and the same thing in different aspects. Time and again 
had Russia championed the cause of Orthodox believers, 
particularly those in the Balkans and in Austria. 

All high officials in the Church are appointed by the Holy 
Synod from the ranks of the celibate "black clergy," or 
monks, who live ascetic lives in secluded monas- _, 

I he clergy 

teries. The "white clergy," or ordinary parish 
priests, constitute almost a priestly caste. They are per- 
mitted to marry; and generally the son of a parish priest, 
or "pope," as he is called by the people, succeeds his father 
in that office. The "white clergy" are supported partly by 
subventions from the Government and partly by fees from 
the parishioners for christenings, weddings, and funerals. 1 
Among the Russians themselves there are many Dis- 
senters who formerly were persecuted by the Government 
for their disbelief in Orthodoxy. Chief among Russian 
these are the Raskolniki, or Old Believers, who sects 
agree with the Orthodox Church in its main tenets, but differ 
very sharply on slight matters of ritual. This numerous sect 
arose as a result of a revision of the holy books by the 
Patriarch Nikon in the sixteenth century. The Old Be- 
lievers stand by the old editions, believing that the altera- 
tion of certain words meant the alteration of the original 
pure faith. There are also many sects that have no relation 
whatever with the Orthodox Church, such as the Dukhobors, 
or spirit wrestlers, whose faith is similar to that of the 
Quakers; the Stundists, whose faith is similar to that of the 
Baptists; and the Molokanye, who model themselves rigidly 
on the primitive Church. 

The Peasants 

Russia is essentially a peasant empire, as fully three 
quarters of her population are engaged in tilling the soil. 

1 During the Revolution of 1917 Church and State were separated. 



538 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Since the time of Emancipation the average holding of the 
Peasants peasant has actually diminished, for the reason 
and the that the same quantity of land has been di- 

vided among a greatly increased population. 1 
Vast as are the stretches of fertile soil in Russia, there 
has been a land famine because so much of it was in the 
possession of the State and the nobility. "More land!" 
has been the constant cry of the peasantry, who firmly be- 
lieve that the day is coming when all the land in Russia 
will be given to them gratis. 2 It was this desire for free 
land, not for free government or for free speech, that was to 
make the peasant the powerful ally of the revolutionary 
forces in 1905 and in 191 7. 

As he was unable to make a living from his land, the 
mujik, or peasant, was forced to supplement his farming by 
Poverty of working part of the time on the estate of the 
the peasants no bl e or by becoming a factory "hand" in the 
city during the winter. It is impossible to exaggerate the 
poverty of the Russian masses, who live in straw-thatched 
huts, housing beasts and family under the same roof, and 
whose main diet consists of cabbage soup and black bread. 
It is not unusual for large regions to be "under famine." 
During the great famine of 1891 thousands starved to death 
and many were driven to eat the straw roofs of their houses. 
Because in normal times only ten per cent of the peasants 
raise enough food for themselves and for their cattle, chronic 
underfeeding and slow starvation have been general. 

Most onerous were the taxes which were collected from 
the peasant. In addition to the regular taxes, he had to pay 
p the annual redemption dues for the land acquired 

heavily at the time of the Emancipation. Moreover, 

there were heavy indirect taxes on those articles 
which the peasant must buy, like tea, sugar, matches, and 

1 In i860 the average peasant holding was about 13 acres; in 1900, it had 
decreased to 8.1 acres. 

2 It is related that shortly after the Emancipation, Alexander II himself ad- 
dressed a crowd of the peasants, telling them that no more land would be given 
to them. The peasants simply refused to believe that the person speaking was 
the Tsar, but that he was a "general" who was induced to impersonate the 
Tsar by the officials. 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 539 

kerosene. Knowing that almost everything that he pro- 
duced would go to the tax collector, the mujik was not 
over-ambitious to improve his holding; he even preferred to 
receive the brutal flogging for arrears in taxes rather than 
work to pay them. Like the Poles and Jews who emigrated 
to America to improve their lot, many Russian peasants 
emigrated to Siberia, where they obtained large homesteads 
from the Government on easy terms. 1 

The Intelligentsia 

Although the great majority of the people of Russia are 
illiterate, a cultivated class has emerged- from the ranks of 
the middle class and the nobility. The Intel- character of 
ligentsia, as the educated class is generally the Russian 

int'pllpc't'iji-ils 

called in Russia, has no counterpart anywhere 
in the world. It is composed of men and women, mostly 
university students, who have a love for philosophic ideas 
amounting to a passion, and to whom the traditions and 
conventions of their country, and for that matter of the 
world, count for naught. "An intellectual Russian," once 
wrote Herzen, "is the most independent being in the world. 
. . . We are independent because we have no possessions — ■ 
nothing to lose. All our memories are full of gall and bitter- 
ness. . . . We have no traditions ; therefore, far from being 
inferior on that account to countries who possess them, we 
are superior to them." 

To show their contempt for conventions, the men wore 
their hair long, and the women, short, an outward and 
visible sign of their spirit of revolt. Dressed as The intel- 
peasants out of love for the people, the intelli- ^ntsta 
gentsia would gather in secret meeting-places, where they 
sat far into the night, drinking hot tea, smoking cigarettes, 
and discussing philosophic ideals. From that to hatching 
plots against the Government was but an easy and quick 
transition. Many, if not most, of the terrorists came from 
this class, to whom the assassination of tyrants was the 

1 The Trans-Siberian Railroad greatly aided this emigration. During 1906- 
10 fully a million Russian peasants became colonists in Siberia. 



540 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

first moral duty of a freedom-loving individual. Although 
not all the educated Russians were counted among the 
intelligentsia, the latter became the spokesmen of the dis- 
content of educated Russia with the autocracy. From their 
ranks came_the leaders of the workingmen and of the peas- 
ants during the Revolutions of 1905 and 191 7. 

System of Government 

The vast region known as the Russian Empire, compris- 
ing one half of Europe and one half of Asia, was governed 
by a highly centralized administration located at the capital, 
Petrograd. So complete was the centralization that even 
small matters were frequently referred to the capital from 
the uttermost parts of the Empire. 

All power and authority radiated from the Tsar, the 
"Autocrat of all the Russias," who ruled by "divine 
Power of right." All laws had to have his sanction and all 
the Tsar officials held their posts through his grace. The 
chief governing bodies were the Senate, which was not, as 
its name implies, a legislative body, but a high court of 
justice; and the Council of the Empire, 1 which was the 
center of imperial administration. 

Because of great distances and variety of population, 
Russia is well adapted to a federal system. But very lit- 
n . ,. tie local self-government was permitted lest it 

Centrahza- a ^ 

tion of the should disrupt the unity of the Empire. It 
governmen wag ^y^^ } nto seventy-eight "governments," 

which corresponded to the French departements ; 2 in each a 
governor and an administrative council were appointed by 
the Tsar. Sometimes there was also a governor-general, who 
had supreme military authority over a historic entity, such 
as Poland or Finland. There were also eighteen "provinces " 
in the sparsely settled regions of Asia, each under the rule 
of a military governor. To the elected bodies in the country 
districts, known as Zemstvos, and to the city councils, 
only limited power was given to legislate on local affairs. 
The two most powerful supports of the Go\?ernment were 

1 For the reorganization of this body, see p. 556. 2 See p. 234. 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 541 

the bureaucracy and the police. By the bureaucracy is meant 
the large number of .civil officials, about half a n 

.... .. . . Corruption 

million, called the tchinovniki, who conducted of the of - 
the business of the Empire. Its members were cia s 
recruited from the ranks of the aristocracy and the middle 
class. Many of the highest positions were given to the Ger- 
mans of the Baltic Provinces because of their administra- 
tive capacity and because of their excessive loyalty to the 
autocracy. The pay of the officials being small, they com- 
monly accepted bribes in order to raise their salaries. So 
prevalent was bribery among the Russian officials that 
more than once it broke the force of tyrannical laws. The 
Russian Government was once described as "a despotism 
tempered by corruption." "The administration's inertia 
or duplicity, duly paid for," writes Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu 
in his famous work, The Empire of the Tsars and the Russians, 
"paralyzed bad laws as well as good ones. The functionary 
sold liberty to one, tolerance to another; he sold immu- 
nity to both innocent and guilty. The Russian Dissenters 
(Raskolniki) could not have weathered two centuries of per- 
secution but for the police's and the clergy's willingness 
to ignore them — for a consideration. The Russian spirit 
could never have withstood the pressure put on it under 
Nicholas but for the connivance of the employes, who se- 
cretly suffered the forbidden books and the revolutionary 
papers of Herzen and the other emigrants to be circulated 
— for a consideration." * 

By far the most important element in the administration 
was the police, who formed the Praetorian Guard of the 
autocracy; for the Russian Government under _, 

, rr ,, 1-1 • The police 

the 1 sars was really a police department writ 
large. There were three kinds of police: the civil, used for 
the ordinary purposes of keeping the peace; the military, 
or gensdarmes, to quell riots; and the political, or a body 
of spies, to ferret out conspiracies against the Tsar. In 
each "government" there was a chief of police called the 
ispravnik with large and ill-defined powers. Everybody 

1 Vol. 11, p. 97. 



542 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

traveling in Russia, natives and foreigners alike, had to be 
provided with a passport, or official paper, describing mi- 
nutely the traveler's appearance, faith, errand, and occupa- 
tion, in order to enable the police to apprehend those who 
might be on errands of mischief to the Government. The 
janitor, or dvornik, of almost every house was enlisted in the 
service of the police; it was his duty to mount guard over 
the house and to report any suspicious persons frequent- 
ing it. 

The political police of Russia were widely known as the 
Third Section. The name was officially suppressed in 1880, 
The Third but their functions were continued and even 
Section enlarged. They were made independent of the 

other police, and almost of the administration itself, by 
extra-legal powers; and, in order that they might work si- 
lently and swiftly, they were supported from secret funds 
and made responsible only to the Tsar himself. Between 
the secret service and the terrorists there was a duel to the 
very death ; both sides neither asked nor gave quarter. So 
efficient was the spy system that police agents were received 
even in "Underground Russia." They would ingratiate 
themselves with the revolutionists by pretending to be 
violent enemies of the Tsar; and frequently the very inciters 
to deeds of terrorism and the organizers of conspiracies 
were themselves spies who would betray their "comrades" 
to the Government. 

The Industrial Revolution 

It was not till the end of the nineteenth century that the 
great economic transformation, known as the Industrial 
Reasons for Revolution, began in Russia. The reason for 
Russia's in- Russia's backwardness in this respect was not 

dustnal 

backward- due to her lack of natural resources, for she is 
unusually rich in coal, iron, and oil; nor to her 
lack of labor supply, for her teeming population constitutes 
an almost inexhaustible source of cheap labor; but to her 
lack of capital and to the conservatism of a Government 
which discouraged business enterprise. 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 543 

In 1 89 1 Sergius J. Witte, a former railway manager, 
became Minister of Finance under Alexander III. This was 
an event of prime importance in the history of Witte and 
Russia, for he was to be the Colbert of his coun- tr ^i Revolu- 
try, the initiator and director of new economic tion 
policies. Witte was a totally new type of Russian, a keen 
business man thoroughly conversant with the problems of 
modern finance and industry, a bold speculator, and an ener- 
getic organizer of business enterprises. His main policy 
was to induce foreign capitalists to invest their money in 
Russia, which, because of her abundant resources and cheap 
labor, offered an excellent field for exploitation. As special 
inducements, large government orders for supplies were to 
be placed with the newly established factories, their prod- 
ucts were to be transported at low rates on the State-owned 
railways, and they were to be protected from foreign com- 
petition by high tariffs. Witte also put the finances on a 
sound basis by introducing the gold standard in Russia's 
monetary system. 

As a result of these policies Russia underwent a marked 
industrial development during Witte's administration. Fac- 
tories seemed to grow up overnight like so industrial 
many mushrooms. In 1900 there were over devel °P ment 
thirty-eight thousand factories and two and a half mil- 
lion factory and mine workers. In the production of iron 
and steel Russia, in a short time, outstripped France, 
Austria, and Belgium. 1 From 1870 to 1900 the coal fields 
of Poland and Southern Russia tripled their output. Rail- 
ways developed rapidly under State ownership. In i860 
there was less than a thousand miles of railway in the en- 
tire Empire; in 1895, there were over forty thousand miles. 
The greatest railway in the world, the Trans-Siberian, was 
constructed by the Government with the aid of French 
loans between 1891 and 1900. It served to develop Siberia 
into a home for emigrants and a market for Russian man- 
ufactures. Much of this industrial progress was due to the 

1 During the decade following 1890 the production of steel and iron in Russia 
increased 196 per cent. 



544 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

investment of foreign capital, especially German, and to an 
increased demand for Western products by the Russians. 
German business enterprise was so active in Russia that the 
latter country was once described as an "economic colony" 
of Germany. 1 

In relation to Asia Russia is a manufacturing country; in 
relation to Western Europe it is agricultural, as fully 
eighty-five per cent of Russian exports to the latter consists 
of products of the soil, such as wheat, rye, and oats. The 
cottage industries, known as the Kustari, flourish greatly 
and support about eight millions of people, who in little 
cooperative shops make all sorts of articles from wood, 
copper, brass, leather, and cloth. 

The results of the Industrial Revolution were the same in 
Russia as elsewhere. A prosperous middle class and a numer- 
Appearance ous wor king class made their appearance. Both 
of industrial were opposed to the autocracy because it rep- 
resented the interests of the landed proprietors 
and because it was despotic and corrupt. Waves of peas- 
ants began to surge toward the cities looking for employ- 
ment in the newly built factories, and a working class arose 
which began to organize unions and to strike for better con- 
ditions, activities hitherto quite unknown in Russia. The 
Government, quick to see that any organized discontent 
would soon become political, pronounced unions illegal; and 
strikes were suppressed by the police in the belief that they 
were organized rebellions against the authority of the State. 

Both the middle and the working classes were excellent soil 
for the seeds of revolution. Grouped as they were in large 
The new cities, it was easier to form societies, distribute 
revolution- pamphlets, and organize demonstrations among 
them than among the widely scattered peasants. 
The factory, with its thousand laborers meeting daily and 
discussing their condition, became the nucleus of a revolu- 
tionary society. Hitherto opposition to the Government had 
been the work of small groups of militant idealists who had 

1 Between 1904 and 191 4 German exports to Russia rose from twelve and a 
half to two hundred million dollars. 



RUSSIA AT END OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 545 

waged a desperate war against an autocracy intrenched by 
the loyalty of a helpless and ignorant peasantry. Were a 
new revolutionary movement to arise now, it could com- 
mand the powerful support of the industrial classes. Strange 
as it might have seemed, it was during the iron regime of 
Alexander III that conditions were ripening for the great 
Revolution of 1905. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1905 
Reform Movement in the Reign of Nicholas II 

When Alexander III died in 1894, Russia breathed a 
sigh of relief. His son and successor, Nicholas II, was a 
Character young man of twenty-six who had traveled 
and ideas of widely and who was known to possess a genial 

personality. Many hoped, therefore, that the 
spirit of Alexander II would once more dominate the Gov- 
ernment. But shortly after his accession to the throne, the 
new Tsar frankly made known his position by declaring, " I 
shall preserve the principles of autocracy as firmly and 
unswervingly as my late father of imperishable memory." 
He rebuked a body representing the Zemstvos, who came to 
petition for a constitution and a national legislature, by tell- 
ing them that such things were "senseless dreams." It was 
soon realized that Nicholas resembled neither his father in 
strength of purpose nor his grandfather in liberality of 
spirit; and that he was a weak though amiable man, posses- 
sing only a modicum of statesmanlike ability and likely to 
be dominated by the strong men among the reactionary 
bureaucrats. 

The Tsar's despotic tendencies began to show themselves 
in his treatment of Finland. That country, enjoying con- 
Finnish lib- stitutional government and freedom of speech, 
erties re- had always been an eyesore to the Russian 

officials who regarded this arrangement as an 
evil example to the rest of Russia. Moreover, the high degree 
of local autonomy enjoyed by the Finns affronted their pas- 
sionate desire to unify and to Russify every part of the 
heterogeneous Empire. In spite of the fact that Nicholas 
had sworn to observe the constitution of the Grand Duchy, 
he issued an ukase in 1899 which practically rendered it 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 547 

inoperative. The powers of the local Diet were greatly 
abridged, and it was put under the tutelage of the central 
Government; the local army, hitherto under Finnish con- 
trol and regulation, was incorporated with that of Russia; 
the Russian tongue was declared the official language; and 
Russian officials were sent to draft bills for the Diet and to 
administer the laws, which they did in an arbitrary and per- 
secuting spirit. So great was the indignation of the Finns at 
this violation of their rights that a day of mourning was 
declared, which was observed throughout the Grand Duchy. 
A monster petition, signed by over half a million names, was 
sent to the Tsar asking for the restoration of the liberties of 
Finland, but it received no attention. In 1904 the Russian 
Governor-General, Bobrikov, was assassinated by a Finn- 
ish patriot who then committed suicide, leaving a letter in 
which he explained that this act was due to the desire 
on his part to call the attention of the Tsar to the outrageous 
treatment of his country by the Russian officials. 

The agitation throughout the Empire for reform soon 
made great headway under the impetus of the new spirit of 
opposition to the autocracy manifested by the War on the 
middle and working classes in the towns. Rev- intelIectu als 
olutionary societies multiplied rapidly. Every form of pri- 
vate association, like engineering societies, academies of sci- 
ence, lawyers' clubs, trade unions, chambers of commerce, 
and even public bodies, like the provincial Zemstvos and 
city councils, became identified with some form of agitation 
for political freedom. Because the intelligentsia were the 
leaders among the reformers, the Government undertook to 
wage relentless war on students, teachers, and even books. 
The writings of Herbert Spencer and James Bryce and 
Green's Short History of the English People were forbidden to 
be read in Russia. A distinguished historian and sociologist, 
Professor Miliukov, who later became the leader of the Liber- 
als in the Duma, was removed from his university position 
because of his "generally noxious tendencies." Students 
especially were under the watchful care of the police, who 
spied on their activities in and out of the classroom and 



548 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

arbitrarily transported to Siberia those suspected of enter- 
taining revolutionary ideas. 

The great error made by the Government was that it 
classed this agitation with its predecessors, the Nihilist 
Contrast and Narod movements, which were inspired by 
andTomer 13 sma ^ groups of conspirators and which were 
agitations easily suppressed. It was not till the new agita- 
tion had assumed alarming proportions that the authorities 
realized that they were face to face with a great social up- 
heaval supported by the industrial elements in Russian so- 
ciety that had come into existence with the factory system. 

In 1902 the Minister of the Interior, Sipiagin, was assas- 
sinated by a revolutionist. As his successor, the Tsar ap- 
pointed Viatscheslav Plehve, who had achieved 

Plehve 

an unenviable reputation as a police officer and 
who had made himself particularly odious as the Russifier 
of Finland and Poland. Plehve was to Nicholas II what the 
Earl of Strafford had been to the English Charles I, a deter- 
mined and resourceful supporter of absolute monarchy who 
believed in a policy of "Thorough" in suppressing hostility 
to the Throne. He had been a consistent opponent of 
Witte, whose industrial policies he believed would in the 
end undermine the autocracy by changing the social and 
economic conditions on which the latter was built. 

Under Plehve the entire Russian Government became a 
Third Section. A net of secret police was cast over the whole 
Activities of country ; spies were everywhere, in the class- 
the spies rooms, in counting-houses, in workshops, in clubs, 
in public offices, in foreign countries where Russian refugees 
congregated, and in the secret councils of the revolutionary 
brotherhoods. An agent provocateur, or police spy, by pre- 
tending to be an ardent revolutionist would incite the ene- 
mies of the Tsar to violent deeds at a time and place agreed 
upon with the police and military, who would be on hand 
prepared to trap them. There was the strange case of Azev, 
half-spy half-revolutionist, who had become the trusted 
leader of the "militants," the most daring group in the war 
against Russian officialdom. In order to convince the rev- 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 549 

olutionists of his loyalty to the cause, Azev himself would 
organize conspiracies against high officials. It is now known 
that it was he who planned the murder of Sipiagin, Plehve, 
and the Grand Duke Sergius, though the true motives for 
these crimes have not yet been explained. This extraor- 
dinary man established a dynamite laboratory where bombs 
were manufactured; and he was very energetic in organizing 
revolutionary groups and then secretly betraying them to 
the police. In 1903 there were as many as twelve thousand 
"political cases" and about five thousand people were im- 
prisoned, exiled, or executed by administrative process 
with hardly a pretense of legal trials. 

It was part of Plehve's policy to excite racial and reli- 
gious animosities among the people in order to distract 
them from revolutionary activity. He was par- Attacks on 
ticularly bitter against the Jews, whom, like all the J ews 
Russian officials, he hated because of their resistance to 
Orthodoxy and to Russification, and especially because 
many of the revolutionists were of Jewish origin. Societies 
called ' ' Leagues of True Russians ' ' were organized by govern- 
ment officials for the purpose of convincing the people that 
all truly patriotic Russians supported the Tsar and that his 
opponents were enemies of the fatherland. It was also the 
policy of Plehve to fight terror with terror, and bands of 
roughs called "Black Hundreds" were encouraged to at- 
tack the Jews and revolutionists. Proclamations were 
spread broadcast, denouncing the Jews as instigators of rev- 
olution and as enemies whose object it was to destroy the 
Russian Government because it was so truly Christian and 
patriotic. A series of attacks on the Jews, called pogroms, 
took place which culminated in the famous massacre of 
Kishinev in 1903. Hundreds of houses and stores belong- 
ing to Jews were pillaged and burned; about fifty persons 
were killed and about five hundred wounded. Hardly an 
effort was made by the authorities to stop the rioting. Sol- 
diers and police stood by while people were being mur- 
dered, and they even arrested those who tried to defend 
themselves. 



550 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Massacre of Kishinev horrified the world, and 
great indignation was expressed in public meetings called 
Assassina- throughout Europe and America to protest 
tion of against the Russian Government's countenanc- 

Plehve 

ing such barbaric cruelties. Plehve had breathed 
a spirit of savagery into the bureaucracy such as had not 
been known even in the days of the "Nicholas System," 
and the revolutionists determined to "execute" him. On 
July 28, 1904, as he was driving in his carriage a bomb 
was thrown at him by a student, and the career of 
the Tsar's favorite was closed. In explanation of this deed 
the revolutionists issued a proclamation to the world regret- 
ting the murder but declaring that it was justified for the 
reason that in Russia the peaceful means of agitation, free- 
dom of speech, did not exist as a check upon irresponsible 
power; therefore the only means left was to meet the "vio- 
lence of tyranny with the force of revolutionary right." 

The events which led to the calling of the first Russian 
Parliament, or Duma, may be grouped under the following 
headings: (1) The Russo-Japanese War; (2) petitions and 
demonstrations of peaceful citizens; (3) violent attacks on 
high officials; and (4) a series of revolutionary strikes cul- 
minating in the famous General Strike of 1905. Through- 
out, the autocracy seemed to have only one policy: to yield 
only after the greatest pressure had been brought to bear 
upon it, and then to modify and even to nullify the con- 
cessions it had granted, once the pressure was removed. 

Early in February, 1904, the war with Japan broke out. 1 
A stirring appeal was issued by Nicholas to his subjects, 
Unpopular- asking them to save their country from its foes 
warwfth abroad and from those at home for the sake of 
Japan "the Faith, the Tsar, and the Fatherland." The 

appeal met with little response among the people, who 
feared that a foreign war might be used as a distraction 
from reforms at home. Many of the peasant soldiers did 
not know who the Japanese were and actually thought that 
they were again fighting the Turks. 

1 See p. 668. 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1905 551 

Some of those called to the colors tried to escape, but they 
were forced into the military trains for the Far East at the 
point of the bayonet. Several mutinies occurred, particu- 
larly in the navy. The sailors on board the warship Prince 
Potemkin raised the standard of revolt and cruised about 
the Black Sea giving aid to the revolutionists in the ports 
till they were forced to abandon the ship. Mismanagement 
and corruption characterized the conduct of the war. It was 
openly charged that the highest officials, including mem- 
bers of the imperial family, were benefiting from war con- 
tracts; and that the very funds of the Red Cross were mis- 
appropriated for private use. The terrible defeats of the 
Russian army in the battles around Mukden, the capture of 
Port Arthur after a long, desperate siege, and the total de- 
struction of the Russian fleet in the Straits of Tsushima l 
shattered the almost universal belief in the military impreg- 
nability of the Russian Empire. Humiliation at the defeat 
of their armies and contempt for the weakness and inca- 
pacity of the Government combined to give the revolution- 
ists great confidence in their attacks upon the autocracy. 
Huge mobs marched through the streets of Petrograd and 
Moscow brandishing weapons and shouting, "Down with 
the autocracy ! " " Stop the war ! ' ' 

As the successor to Plehve the Tsar chose a popular, 
liberal-minded aristocrat, Prince Sviatopolk-Mirski, who 
believed that the monarchy could be saved only Attempts at 
by a benevolent and liberal attitude toward the moderate 
people. He induced the Tsar to abolish the flog- 
ging of peasants and to remit their arrears in taxes, which 
were so burdensome that to collect them was almost impos- 
sible. The censorship of the press was greatly relaxed and, 
for a brief period, Russia enjoyed comparative freedom of 
speech. Prince Mirski encouraged the moderate element 
among the opponents of the Government to present its 
plans of reform in the hope of establishing a cordial under- 
standing between the Tsar and the people. Accordingly, a 
congress composed of delegates from the Zemstvos con- 

1 See p. 670. 



552 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

vened at Petrograd in November, 1904, to discuss reforms. 
It finally drew up a notable petition to the Tsar, which 
frankly declared that the conduct of the bureaucracy had 
alienated the mass of Russians from the Throne itself; that 
in order to restore good feeling between the people and 
the Government, it was absolutely essential to establish 
full civil, political, and religious liberty; and that a repre- 
sentative assembly should be immediately summoned. 
Similar petitions poured in from civic bodies, learned so- 
cieties, and commercial organizations. On December 26, 
1904, Nicholas issued a proclamation promising to grant re- 
forms, but he insisted that under no circumstances would he 
permit his autocratic power to be impaired. Prince Mirski 
found that his efforts to introduce liberal measures were 
thwarted by the Tsar, either directly or indirectly, through 
administrative ordinances and secret orders, and he re- 
signed in disgust. 

The militant element among the revolutionists was more 
than ever convinced that violence was the only efficient 
Terrorist method of bringing the Government to its knees, 
activities anc j assassination of officials became the order 
of the day. No member of Russian officialdom, from the 
lowest policeman to the Tsar, was safe from terrorist at- 
tacks. We have already seen how Bobrikov, Sipiagin, and 
Plehve paid with their lives for their activity on behalf of 
the autocracy. It was known that Grand Duke Sergius, 
uncle of the Tsar, was bitterly hostile to reform, and that 
he had declared that what the people needed was a "stick," 
not a constitution. One day a bomb was thrown at him and 
he was instantly killed. General Trepov, son of the man 
whose life was attempted in 1878, was made head of the 
police with full power to restore order. A policy of whole- 
sale repression was inaugurated, and the country was put 
under "reinforced protection," or semi-martial law. Hun- 
dreds of men and women were imprisoned, beaten, tortured, 
exiled, and executed without even a pretense of legal pro- 
cedure. 

The spirit of revolt spread to the peasants in the coun- 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 553 

try, and many uprisings took place on the estates. The 
mir served as a center for revolutionary organi- Outbreaks 
zations, as the peasants would assemble in the of the peas- 
village to plan attacks on the proprietor. Gen- 
erally they would content themselves with carting away 
the produce stored in the granaries ; sometimes they would 
also burn the buildings on the estate and threaten the 
life of the owner. When a raid of this kind occurred, the 
Cossacks would be sent to restore order; and when these 
savage warriors were turned loose on a village, the horrors 
which they perpetrated are beyond description. Shootings, 
stabbings, rape, and the burning of homes were the order 
of the day, and neither sex nor age was spared. 

The General Strike 

Almost from the beginning the leadership in organized 
rebellion was assumed by the working classes in the cities. 
Many labor unions were formed under the auspi- ^ . , 

. , Organized 

ces of the Socialists, and "Young Russia" be- labor begins 
came the leader of the workers. Strikes were mat- agnation 
ters of daily occurrence; and every strike had through 

strikes 

a double motive, the bettering of the condition 
of the laborers and the securing of a constitution. A kind 
of labor "General Staff," the Council of Workingmen's Dele- 
gates, was organized at Petrograd during 1905, which as- 
sumed charge of a gigantic labor agitation inaugurated 
throughout the country. The autocracy keenly realized 
the danger from a well-organized working-class uprising. 
It endeavored, therefore, to circumvent the agitation in 
two ways: first, by bringing pressure to bear on the employ- 
ers to provide good conditions in their factories; and, 
secondly, by organizing labor unions under its protection. 
" No Politics!" was the motto of these Government unions. 
They chose as their chief a priest known as Father Gapon. 
During the year 1905 a strike fever seemed to seize 
upon the Russian masses; even the Govern- "RedSun- 
ment unions were swept into the current of agi- day 
tation, which soon became political in character. It was 



554 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Father Gapon's idea to organize a procession of people who 
were to present a petition to the "Little Father" in person, 
asking him to help his children, the people, to get better 
living conditions and to show his confidence in them by 
convoking a popular assembly. It was understood that, if 
the Tsar refused the petition, an uprising would follow. 
On Sunday, January 22, 1905, an enormous crowd of un- 
armed men and women, led by Father Gapon in priestly 
attire and carrying a crucifix, began to move through the 
streets of Petrograd. When they arrived at the Winter 
Palace, instead of finding the Tsar, they found a body of 
armed Cossacks waiting to receive them. Then the order 
was given to fire; and, at each volley, men and women fell 
on all sides. "Red Sunday," as the day of the massacre 
was called, horrified the world and implanted a grim deter- 
mination among all classes of Russians to destroy a Govern- 
ment which knew no other way of communicating with its 
people than through the rifle and the saber. 

Revolutionary fury raged throughout the country. Bar- 
ricades were erected in the capital, and strikes involving 
Nationalist thousands of workingmen took place in almost 
uprisings every industry. The subject peoples in the Em- 
pire took advantage of the situation to add to the general 
turmoil in the hope of getting concessions for their nation- 
ality as well as for democracy. They reasoned that a fallen 
autocracy might mean the breaking or the loosening of the 
chains whicji bound them so tightly to the Empire. Warsaw 
was a hotbed of insurrection, and a mob of two hundred 
thousand persons marched through its streets carrying Po- 
lish flags and demanding political freedom and autonomy 
for Poland. So dangerous was the situation that all of Po- 
land was placed under martial law. In Finland a general 
strike took place which brought that country to the verge 
of anarchy. Nicholas decided to yield, and on November 4, 
1905, he issued an ukase, repealing the anti-Finnish laws. 
Later (1906) a new constitution was granted to the Grand 
Duchy, which abolished its medieval assembly of four 
estates and established, instead, a modern legislature of 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 555 

one House, elected by popular vote. Woman suffrage was 
also granted, and the Finnish Diet could now boast of being 
the most modern of the world's parliaments. In the Baltic 
Provinces the Lettish peasants rose and pillaged the es- 
tates of their German landlords. So widespread was the 
revolt that an independent Baltic Republic was organized 
in Riga; but it was unable to maintain itself very long, for 
it was suppressed by Russian armies. In the Caucasus 
the Armenians and Georgians rose in rebellion but were 
likewise suppressed. In the "Pale" a powerful Socialist 
organization of Jewish workingmen known as the "Jewish 
Bund " battled against the " Black Hundreds." 

The autocracy was tottering fast and it endeavored to 
save itself from complete destruction by granting con- 
cessions. On August 19, 1905, the Tsar promised The general 
to summon a Duma, or national legislature, to strike 
be composed of elected representatives. This promise 
aroused little enthusiasm, for the reason that the proposed 
Duma was to be elected by a restricted suffrage, which was 
so arranged as to deny the vote to the chief enemies of the 
Government, the professional and working classes. It was 
plain that the moment was now propitious for a decisive 
blow against the tottering system. During October, 1905, 
there took place one of the most extraordinary popular 
demonstrations in all history. A general strike was de- 
clared throughout the whole Empire. It began with the 
railway men and telegraphers, and all communication was 
cut off when they ceased working. It then spread rapidly to 
the shipyards, factories, mines, and shops. The strike fever 
seemed to seize all classes. Gas and electric companies 
refused to operate their plants and many cities were in 
darkness ; merchants closed their stores ; teachers dismissed 
their classes; domestic servants refused to cook, to clean 
house, or to wait on table; druggists refused to prepare 
prescriptions and doctors closed their offices; lawyers re- 
fused to plead in court and judges and juries refused to ren- 
der verdicts; public bodies, like the city councils and the 
Zemstvos, adjourned their meetings; and even the ballet 



556 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

dancers refused to dance. Life in Russia came virtually 
to a standstill. 

The Government was now face to face with a situation 
such as had never confronted it or any other government 
before, and there was nothing else to do but to yield. 
On October 30, 1905/ the Tsar issued his famous mani- 
festo which declared that it was his wish to "establish an 
immutable rule that no law will be considered binding 
which has not the consent of the Duma; and that to the 
people will be given the power to exercise an effective 
supervision over the acts of the officials." Freedom of 
speech, association and religion, "the immutable founda- 
tions of civic liberty," were guaranteed; and the electoral 
law was drastically revised so as to establish virtual universal 
suffrage. As a further sign of his liberal intentions, Nicholas 
dismissed the hated officials, General Trepov and Pobiedono- 
stsev, and appointed the moderate liberal, Count Witte, 
as his Prime Minister. 

In spite of the capitulation of the Government, or rather 
because of it, the revolutionists continued their activities. 
~, . Another general strike was declared in Novem- 

Ihe upns- ° . 

ing in Mos- ber of the same year, but it had to be abandoned 
on account of the refusal of many workingmen 
to join. The city of Sebastopol was seized by mutinous 
soldiers and sailors, and it took an army of twenty thou- 
sand men to recapture it. A desperate uprising broke out 
in Moscow on December 21. Barricade fighting took place 
such as had not been known in Europe since the "June 
days" of 1848 in Paris. After a week of desperate struggle, 
in which about five thousand men were killed, the army 
succeeded in quelling the revolt. On March 5, 1906, the 
Tsar issued a manifesto which converted the Council of 
the Empire, hitherto an advisory body entirely appointed 
by him, into an upper House of two hundred members, one 
half to be appointed by him and the other half to be chosen 
by various bodies, such as the Zemstvos, the universities, 
chambers of commerce, the Synod of the Orthodox Church, 
and associations of nobles. A cabinet, called the " Council 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 557 

of Ministers," was also organized. It consisted of ten mem- 
bers and was presided over by a Prime Minister appointed 
by the Tsar. 

Political Parties 

There now came a lull in revolutionary activity, and 
preparations were made for the coming elections to the 
Duma. Although there was nothing in Russia Q , . 
that approximated a political party in the Ameri- and 
can or English sense, yet there existed various 
groups with distinctive programs for the solution of Rus- 
sia's problems. The most moderate called themselves 
Octobrists, because their platform consisted of the Tsar's 
manifesto of October 30. Its supporters were liberally in- 
clined nobles who favored a government like that of Prussia, 
in which the Duma was to play a decidedly subordinate 
part in the government of the country. By far the most 
important group were the Constitutional Democrats, popu- 
larly called the "Cadets," who looked to England rather 
than to Prussia for political inspiration. Their program 
comprised the establishment of a constitutional monarchy 
based upon universal suffrage, complete freedom of speech 
and of association, and, especially, the responsibility of 
the Ministers to the Duma. On the land question which, 
next to free government, was the most important issue be- 
fore the Russian people, the "Cadets" advocated the giv- 
ing of more land to the peasants through the compulsory 
sale of some of the larger estates at prices fixed by commis- 
sions composed of peasants and proprietors, as well as the 
granting of farms from the vast Crown lands. Most of 
the supporters of this party came from the middle classes, 
the professional men, merchants, and capitalists, whose 
spokesman and leader was Professor Miliukov. 

During the reign of Alexander III the exiled revolu- 
tionists had turned to the study of the writings of Karl 
Marx, and many were converted to socialism The Social 
by a brilliant writer and lecturer named Plek- Democrats 
hanov. Socialistic ideas were enthusiastically seized upon 



558 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

by the intelligentsia, and so many different schools arose 
that it was said that when two Russian Socialists met there 
were three Socialist parties. The Social Democratic Party, 
called the "S — D," subscribed fully to socialist doctrines. 1 
In regard to Russia it believed that her political progress 
would coincide with her economic development, that the 
Industrial Revolution was bringing into existence a liberal 
bourgeoisie and a revolutionary proletariat, and that it 
was the destiny of the former to overthrow the autocracy 
and establish in Russia, as it had done in Western Europe, 
a constitutional form of government. But this would be 
merely a "rest house" in the march toward socialism. 
The working class in the cities was to be the nucleus of 
revolution, and a great agitation was undertaken by the 
"S — D" among the workers in order to educate and or- 
ganize them for this great future. 

A smaller but yet highly important group was the 
"S- R," or Socialist Revolutionists. Now the "S— D" 

The So ial anc ^ ^ e "^ — ^" a £ ree d in their political pro- 
ist Revolu- gram, which was the establishment of a dem- 
ocratic republic by a national convention rep- 
resenting the Russian people, but the latter disdained to 
ask for any reforms whatsoever at the hands of the Tsar, 
while the former were more conciliatory. They agreed in 
Contrasts favoring the ultimate establishment of a So- 
twcTsocial- cianst Commonwealth in which the industries 
ist factions of the country would be publicly owned and 
administered ; but they disagreed sharply as to the immedi- 
ate program of economic reform and as to methods of agi- 
tation. To the Socialist Revolutionists, the essential thing 
about Russia was that she was an agricultural country; con- 
sequently the condition of the peasant, not that of the fac- 
tory worker, should be the main concern of reformers. They 
were firmly convinced that the Russian problem would 
be solved only so far as the land problem was solved ; hence 
they became the revolutionary champions of the peasants 
in demanding "the transformation of the land from private 

1 See pp. 579 ff. 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 559 

property, as it is now, into the property of the whole people" ; 
in other words, the confiscation of the landed estates. 
Unlike the Social Democrats, who wished to abolish the 
mir as an outworn institution, the "S — R" wished to pre- 
serve and strengthen it as a democratic institution peculiar 
to the Russian people. It was also the fond belief of this 
group that Russia could escape the period of capitalism with 
its attendant evils, and so make a leap from autocracy to 
socialism. They therefore favored terrorism in any and all 
forms: assassination of officials, mutinies of soldiers and 
sailors, strikes of workingmen, barricade fighting, and, 
especially, peasant uprisings; whereas the "S — D" relied 
largely upon peaceful agitation to reach their socialist goal, 
though they were not averse to violence when necessary. 
The importance of the "S — R" lay in the fact that they 
succeeded in exerting a powerful influence over the peas- 
ants, to whom one had to say merely the magic words, 
"More Land," in order to win them to any program, no 
matter how revolutionary. 

Closely allied with the Socialist Revolutionists was the 
large and powerful organization of peasants known as the 
Peasants' Union. Its program was summed up The Labor 
in the demand, "The Whole Land for the Whole Gr0U P 
People!" In the first and second Dumas over one hundred 
delegates, calling themselves the Labor Group, represented 
the Union. It was this attitude of the peasants which 
frightened the Government into making great changes in 
the system of landholding which will be described later. 

The Dumas 

On May 6, 1906, the Duma began its session in the 
Winter Palace, under the presidency of a distinguished 
jurist, Muromtzev. It was a historic day for The firgt 
Russia, and the meeting was opened with im- meeting of 
pressive ceremony by Nicholas II in person. He 
exhorted the representatives "to work for the rejuvenation 
of Russia's moral outlook and for the reincarnation of her 
best powers." However, even before the Duma had met, the 



56o MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Government had begun a counter-revolution. A reaction- 
ary, Goremykin, had succeeded the liberal Witte as Premier. 

In spite of the system of indirect elections through elec- 
toral colleges, almost the entire membership of the Duma 
Parties in was anti-Government. Of the five hundred and 
the Duma twenty-four members elected, about forty 
were Octobrists, one hundred and eighty- five were " Cadets," 
one hundred belonged to the Labor Group, and fourteen were 
Social Democrats; the rest represented various national 
and religious elements of the Empire. Neither reaction- 
aries nor Socialist Revolutionists were chosen ; the former 
had too few supporters, and the latter boycotted the elec- 
tions because, as they claimed, the lower classes were not 
given sufficient representation. 

Almost from the start the Duma became the scene of 
forensic battles between the Government and its opponents. 
™ ~ A demand was made that amnesty be immedi- 

ihe Duma ....... 

criticizes the ately granted to all political prisoners, to which 
ovemment on jy a p art j a i concession was made. Committees 

were appointed to investigate the charges of corruption 
in the conduct of the Russo-Japanese War and the part 
the police had played in the instigation of pogroms. Bills 
abolishing capital punishment and granting autonomy to 
Poland and Finland were favored by overwhelming majori- 
ties, but to all of these demands the Government gave flat 
refusals or evasive replies. The Duma soon found itself 
impotent to accomplish any vital reforms, as the Tsar had 
no inclination to allow a representative body to assume the 
reins of power. Yet never before in the history of Russia 
had the shortcomings of the autocracy been so freely dis- 
cussed. Scathing denunciations of the Government were 
delivered by impassioned orators who demanded an ac- 
counting for the brutal and illegal acts of the officials. 

A conflict over the question of land reform arose be- 
Conflict be- tween the Duma and the Government. The 
Duma and P ro P osa l of the latter was to abolish the mir 
the Tsar and institute peasant proprietorship, but without 
giving the peasants any more land. This did not satisfy 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1905 561 

the former, which desired to increase the holdings of the 
peasants through sales, at fair prices, of the Crown lands 
and of some of the large estates. A vote of censure was 
passed against the Ministry, but it refused to resign. The 
Duma then demanded that the Ministry be made respon- 
sible to it and not to the Tsar. On July 21a manifesto 
was issued by Nicholas which declared that the Duma was 
meddling with affairs which were not its concern, and that 
its refusal to "cooperate" with the Government was "a 
cruel disappointment to him." He then ordered its disso- 
lution and the election of another Duma. 

A critical moment had now arrived. Would the Rus- 
sian people rise in case the Duma defied the The Viborg 
Tsar? About half of the members retired to Manifesto 
Viborg, in Finland, where they drew up a manifesto to the 
people, exhorting them to refuse to give taxes and military 
service to a Government which had violated the con- 
stitution by governing without Parliament. But there was 
no organized response on the part of the people. The 
signers of the Viborg Manifesto were disfranchised and de- 
clared ineligible for membership in succeeding Dumas; 
and later they were prosecuted for conspiracy against the 
authorities. 

In the next election the Government did its best to return 
a friendly assembly, but the second Duma, which met on 
March 5, 1907, was, if anything, more anti-Gov- The second 
ernment than the preceding one. About sixty- Duma 
five Social Democrats and thirty-five Socialist Revolutionists 
were elected; the membership of the Octobrists, "Cadets," 
and the Labor Group was about the same as in the first 
Duma. To counterbalance this anti-Government majority, 
there were elected about sixty reactionaries. 

Once more did the Duma enter the lists against the 
autocracy. Criticism of the Government and bitter de- 
nunciation of officials were even more marked in the sec- 
ond than in the first assembly. Premier Stolypin, who in 
the meantime had succeeded Goremykin, was determined 
that under no circumstances should parliament be permitted 



562 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to control the policies of the Empire. After a stormy life 
of one hundred and four days, the second Duma was dis- 
solved, on the pretext that some of its members were im- 
plicated in revolutionary conspiracies. 

An Imperial edict, in June, 1907, declared that the two 
Dumas did not truly represent the Russian people because 
Hostile at- of the "imperfections of the electoral law which 
Tsar toward ena °l e d men who were not representatives of 
the Duma the needs and desires of the people to be elected 
to membership." The Tsar made an open declaration that 
he had the right to make and unmake laws, "as it was God 
who bestowed upon us our power as Autocrat. It is before 
His altar that we shall answer for the destinies of the Rus- 
sian State." 

Contrary to the constitutional requirements that all 
laws must have the consent of the Duma, a new electoral 
The new ^ aw was P romu lg a ted by the Tsar alone which 
electoral radically altered the system of representation 
and which violated the democratic principle by 
requiring class and property qualifications for suffrage. 
This edict had two objects: to reduce the number of repre- 
sentatives of the non-Russian elements in the Empire and 
to increase the representation of the landed nobility at the 
expense of the town-dwellers and of the peasants. The Po- 
lish delegation was reduced from thirty-seven to fourteen; 
that of the Caucasus from twenty-nine to ten ; about twenty 
cities lost the right to elect members directly to the Duma. 
That body, now reduced to a membership of four hundred 
and forty-two, was to be chosen by a very complicated sys- 
tem of which the main features were as follows : the popula- 
tion was divided into four classes, landowners, merchants, 
peasants, and workingmen, to each of which was allotted a 
certain number of members in the electoral colleges that 
chose the representatives to the Duma. But the allotments 
were outrageously unfair, as the landowners got sixty per 
cent of the electors, the peasants twenty- two per cent, the 
merchants fifteen per cent, and the workingmen only three 
per cent. The machinery of election was entirely in the 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 563 

hands of the officials. Districts were gerrymandered in the 
interests of the conservatives, and prosecutions were fre- 
quently instituted against opponents of the Government 
to prevent them from becoming candidates. As was ex- 
pected, the third Duma, which met on November 14, 1907, 
contained an overwhelming conservative majority with a 
sprinkling of "Cadets" and Socialists. In this " landowners' 
Duma," as it was called, the majority having been chosen by 
about twenty thousand landed proprietors, the Tsar finally 
got an assembly which did not "cruelly disappoint " him. 

The autocracy was again in the saddle and a counter- 
revolution was begun under Premier Stolypin. "First, 
pacification, then reform," was his formula, and Premier 
he grimly determined to snuff out the flickering a ctbnary re " 
flames of revolution. The hangman's noose, policies 
" Stolypin's necktie," was constantly in service. In 1907 
about twenty-seven hundred persons were sentenced to 
death for political causes and eighteen hundred were exe- 
cuted; in 1908, about eight hundred were put to death by 
court-martial and fourteen thousand sent into exile. The 
old revolutionist, Nicholas Tchaikovsky, was arrested on 
charges based upon acts committed thirty years before, 
and he was kept in prison until released on bail, raised by 
friends in America and England. A remarkable old woman 
named Katherine Breshkovsky, "the little grandmother 
of the Revolution," was sent to the wilds of Siberia at the 
age of seventy. The terrorists of reaction, the Black Hun- 
dreds, were once more incited against the Jews, and they 
committed many outrages with the connivance of the au- 
thorities. Reaction spread to Finland. An imperial rescript 
in 1909 deprived the local Diet of the control of the Finnish 
army and declared that the Grand Duchy must subordi- 
nate itself to the wishes of the Russian Government. In 1910 
a law was passed which greatly restricted the autonomy of 
Finland by giving the Duma large powers of legislation in 
Finnish matters. Protests were sent to Russia by Euro- 
pean parliaments, denouncing this law as a violation of the 
principles of liberty and democracy. Because of these 



564 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

policies Premier Stolypin was hated as much as Plehve had 
been. Many attempts were made on his life; and on Sep- 
tember 14, 191 1, he was shot to death in a theater by a 
half-spy half-revolutionist named Bogrov. His successor, 
Kokovtsov, declared, however, that he would pursue the 
same policies. 

The third Duma lived out its term of five years and an 
election took place for the fourth Duma, which met on 
The fourth November 28, 1912. This body was, if anything, 
Duma more conservative than its immediate prede- 

cessor, for the majority, called the "Black Block," con- 
sisted mainly of reactionaries of the most extreme type. The 
opposition barely counted eighty members, although a suf- 
ficient number of Octobrists was elected, which held the bal- 
ance of power. At last the voice of revolution was stilled 
and, for a time at least, peace reigned in Russia. 

Failures of the Revolution 

The Russian Revolution of 1905 failed in its main ob- 
ject of establishing a thorough constitutional r6gime. There 
Govern- was not only universal disappointment, but also 
ment won astonishment at the outcome. The autocracy, 

in spite of ... . 

its weakness discredited by the humiliating defeat in Man- 
churia, by corruption and incompetence at home, by weak- 
ness in the face of revolution, nevertheless did manage to 
cope successfully with the greatest popular uprising since 
the French Revolution. Several explanations may here be 
offered tentatively, as we are still too close to the great 
event to comprehend it fully. 

In the first place, the loyalty of the army was a matter 
of vital importance to the Government. In our day of 
Loyalty of huge standing armies based upon popular con- 
the army scription, it is well-nigh impossible for a rebel- 
lion to succeed unless it has the unswerving support of the 
military. Louis XVI had but a small band of mercenaries 
and adventurers with which to defend his throne, whereas 
Nicholas II had the support of a vast military machine 
which, in spite of mutinies here and there, rallied loyally 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 565 

to his side. To suppress the uprisings the Government was 
careful to employ only the older soldiers for fear that the 
younger ones might be infected with revolutionary ideas. 
It also made use of race antagonisms for its own wel- 
fare. Regiments of Poles were used to put down the Li- 
thuanians, whom they hate. Moscow was garrisoned by 
troops from Little Russia, who despise the people of that 
city because they are Great Russians. Soldiers from the 
cities were used against the peasants; and soldiers from the 
rural districts were used against the city workingmen. The 
officials, being almost entirely from the noble class, were 
of course faithful to the Government. Most faithful of all 
were the Cossacks, recruited from the semi-civilized tribes 
who live on the steppes, or plains of Southern Russia. These 
tribesmen, who are half- Russian, half Tartar in origin, form 
a "rough-rider " contingent of over three hundred thousand 
men enlisted for life. The Cossacks are not bound by so- 
cial, cultural, and economic ties to the rest of the Russian 
people; they had no interest, therefore, other than that of 
fighting for the Tsar by whom they were greatly favored. 
These savage fighters were always used when the Govern- 
ment resolved upon severe measures, because their well- 
known cruelty excited terror and dismay. 

As Russia is a vast domain with poor means of com- 
munication and inhabited by a heterogeneous population 
composed mainly of ignorant, superstitious Lack of or- 
peasants, it was difficult for the opponents of the gamzation 

, . r a- . , among the 

autocracy to organize their forces effectively, revolution- 
There was no central revolutionary organiza- lsts 
tion corresponding to the Jacobins in France to direct the 
movement all over Russia, to plan attacks when most pro- 
pitious, and to confront the Government at every turn 
with a well-thought-out plan of opposition. What really 
occurred was a series of sporadic uprisings without effec- 
tive leadership and without sufficient direction, — desperate 
and dangerous, it is true, but not very difficult to suppress 
by a determined autocracy having a large army and the 
savage Cossacks at its command. 



566 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

For the subject nationalities, such as the Poles, Finns, 
Georgians, and Letts, the Revolution was an opportunity 
Nationalist to assert their particular claims. This, instead 
divisions Q f helping the movement, seriously hindered it; 
for the Government was now able to make an effective 
patriotic appeal to the Orthodox Russians by declaring 
that the Revolution had for its object the destruction of 
the unity of the Empire. Racial and religious hatreds, too, 
expended revolutionary energy which might have been bet- 
ter used in opposing the Tsar. In the Baltic Provinces, the 
Letts fought the Germans; in the Caucasus, it was Tartar 
against Armenian; in the "Pale," it was Christian against 
Jew. 

Great assistance was rendered to the Government by for- 
eign bankers and by investors in Russian industries, who 
Foreign feared that the success of the Revolution would 

support mean the possible repudiation of national debts 

the Tsar and the depreciation of foreign investments. 
They therefore gave invaluable, though invisible, service to 
the embarrassed autocracy by supplying it with liberal loans; 
for money was essential to maintain the official machine 
and to keep the army faithful. The Government of Ger- 
many, being autocratic, naturally sympathized with the 
Russian authorities, because it feared the spread of revo- 
lutionary ideas within its own borders. For her activities 
on behalf of the Tsar, Germany earned the bitter enmity 
of the revolutionists. 

We now come to what is, perhaps, the most important 
cause for the failure of the Russian Revolution. In the 
Division beginning of the movement all the opponents 
among the f tj le autocracy, from the most moderate liberal 

opponents . p . 

of the autoc- to the most violent terrorist, united to present 
a solid front to the Government. The temporary 
collapse of the latter as a result of the general strike, and 
its complete surrender, as shown by the October manifesto, 
encouraged the extreme element among the revolutionists 
to believe that the time had now come for a redistribution 
of property as well as of political power. The Petrograd 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1 905 567 

Council of Workingmen's Delegates assumed the functions of 
a provisional socialist state. It issued orders establishing a 
work-day of eight hours in all industrial establishments. A 
large number of violent strikes occurred in which factories 
were burned and their owners maltreated. The capitalists 
replied with a series of lockouts, and thousands of men 
were thrown out of work. In 1906 on the heels of a half- 
accomplished Revolution, a serious struggle was going on 
between capital and labor. Banks, stores, post-offices, and 
even private houses were robbed by terrorists, who claimed 
that the money thus "expropriated" would be used to 
further the Revolutionary cause. The middle classes, hith- 
erto solidly opposed to the Government, were frightened at 
this turn of affairs. It is true that they hated the autoc- 
racy, but they hated still more to lose their property ; hence 
many now rallied to the side of the Tsar. The Government 
was not slow to see the division in the ranks of its oppo- 
nents and quickly recovered its courage and energy. It is 
therefore not surprising that the Revolutionary proletariat, 
weak in numbers and still weaker in organization, being 
now left alone to fight the battle with the autocracy, went 
down to swift destruction. 

Successes of the Revolution 

However, there were some gains. The Government was 
surprised and frightened at the growth of radicalism among 
the peasants, and it determined upon agrarian Abolition of 
reforms to placate them. Accordingly, half of the m%r 
the redemption tax x for the year 1906 was remitted; and 
the tax was entirely abolished in January, 1907. The peas- 
ant was no longer the "serf of the State." On November 
22, 1906, a notable law was passed through the influence of 
Premier Stolypin, which instituted a fundamental change 
in the relations of the peasants to the mir. The purpose of 
this law was to destroy the communal system of the mir 
and to establish peasant proprietorship. It therefore pro- 
vided that a peasant could withdraw from the mir at pleas- 

1 See p. 512. 



568 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ure and thereupon receive his allotment of land, which 
must be given to him, not in strips, but in solid fields. 
Between 1906 and 19 13 about two and a half millions of 
peasants left the mir to become peasant proprietors. On 
June 14, 1910, another law declared that in the communes 
where there had been no periodic redistribution of lands 1 
since Emancipation, the mir was to have no legal exist- 
ence; as a result, three million more peasants became in- 
dividual proprietors. But, in fact, these peasant proprietors 
continued to observe the customs and traditions of the mir 
under which they had been living for many generations. 

It was the purpose of the Government to establish a large 
number of peasant landowners who, as in France, would 
Conserva- be inclined toward conservative policies because 
peasant SS °^ their property interests. As no more land was 
proprietors given to the peasants, those who could not live 
on their small holdings now had the opportunity of selling 
them to their well-to-do neighbors, who profited greatly 
from the change as these lands were often sold very cheaply. 
The landless ones became agricultural and industrial labor- 
ers or emigrated to Siberia and Central Asia. 

Another gain made by the Revolution was the introduc- 
tion of the thin end of the wedge of popular government. 
Dumajeal- The constitution, promulgated on April 23, 
independ- 1906, declared that the "supreme autocratic 
ence power is vested in the Tsar of all the Russias," 

who was to appoint and dismiss ministries, to initiate legis- 
lation, and to have an absolute veto power over bills passed 
by the two Houses, the Council of the Empire and the 
Duma. Although the constitution stated that all laws 
must have the consent of the Duma, so many restrictions 
and limitations were put on the latter that it was hardly a 
legislature at all. Nevertheless, a representative assembly, 
no matter how unfairly chosen and how limited in power, 
did now exist in Russia. In spite of the fact that it was 
dominated by conservatives and reactionaries, this Rus- 
sian Parliament, like all public bodies, had a growing sense 

1 See p. 512. 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1905 569 

of its own importance. Although it generally cooperated 
with the Tsar, the Duma occasionally exhibited a spirit of 
independence and even of defiance toward the Govern- 
ment. It refused by an overwhelming majority to insert the 
word "Autocrat" in an address to the Tsar; this in spite of 
Premier Stolypin's urgent appeals in behalf of the Tsar. The 
President of the fourth Duma made the following declara- 
tion: "I have ever been and always shall be a convinced 
champion of the representative regime based on constitu- 
tional principles, granted to Russia by the great manifesto of 
October 30, 1905. To consolidate the foundations of this re- 
gime should be the first and constant care of a Russian repre- 
sentative assembly." On June 3, 1912, the Duma passed 
a resolution censuring the home policy of the Government 
for resorting to "exceptional measures" to maintain order. 
When, in 1914, the well-known reactionary, Goremykin, 
was again appointed Premier, the Duma became exceed- 
ingly critical and passed another vote of censure on the 
Government, this time for its interference with elections. 
By far the greatest outcome of the Revolution was the 
moral downfall of the autocracy. The Russian masses were 
now less inclined than formerly to regard the Tsar reverently 
as the "Little Father" who had been commissioned by God 
to rule them. The Revolution was the first great step in 
their political education. It taught them in a highly dra- 
matic manner that the autocracy, which they had long re- 
garded as the special gift of God to his beloved Russia, was 
essentially brutal and selfish, and that in order to advance 
the well-being of their fatherland they themselves must 
control its destinies. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 

Socialism 
(a) Introduction 

One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the 
nineteenth century was the advance of democracy. How 
Revolution- oppressed and divided peoples achieved na- 
te^of h s(> C ~ tional independence, how unenfranchised lower 
ciaiism classes gained political freedom, and how per- 

secuted faiths won toleration have already been told. There 
still remains to tell the story of the extraordinary advance 
of a movement which, unlike the others, did not merely 
seek to liberalize existing institutions, but aimed to change 
the very constitution of the present system of society and to 
establish an entirely new one in which the production and 
the distribution of wealth would be radically different from 
what it is at present. This revolutionary movement goes 
by the general name of "socialism." It is by far the most 
significant movement of our day; not only has it enlisted 
the enthusiastic devotion of millions of followers through- 
out the world, but it has also profoundly influenced the 
views of many who are not its adherents. Socialism has 
been fervently defended and bitterly attacked. By many 
of the working class it has been accepted as the gospel 
which would free them from economic slavery; by many 
of the property-owning class it has been regarded as a 
"red specter," threatening to inaugurate a reign of terror 
which will destroy organized society and plunge the world 
into chaos and ruin. 

Socialism is the most comprehensive as well as the most 
The socialist widespread of modern social movements. It is 
exploitation at once a bitter indictment against the pres- 
of labor e nt social order, a philosophy of life, a program 

of action, and a promise of a future goal. The existing 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 571 

economic system, which is based on private ownership of 
capital and on competition in industry, has undergone severe 
criticism at the hands of the socialists. They claim that 
in spite of the extraordinary increase of wealth since the 
Industrial Revolution, the masses of people live in a state 
of dire poverty and misery, because, through a faulty and 
unjust method of distribution, the few have reaped the 
benefits of industrial progress at the expense of the many. 
Production, assert the socialists, is "social," by which they 
mean that many laborers cooperate to produce an article; 
but distribution is "individual," that is, each laborer is paid 
a certain sum of money as wages by the owner of the machine, 
the capitalist. The laborer's wages are so low that he can- 
not maintain a family without the aid of private or public 
charity. Moreover, he may be deprived of his job at any 
time by his employer, or he may lose it through no fault of 
his own or of his employer, but through the uncertain 
working of the industrial system. Unemployment, they 
say, is an essential feature of this system, for capitalism needs 
an "industrial reserve army," ready to supply the demand 
for more labor in case of a sudden expansion of the market 
or to take the places of those who may be unwilling to work 
for the wages offered to them. The much-lauded freedom 
of the workingman of to-day, argue the socialists, • is an 
illusion; for, deprived of his tools by the competition of 
machinery, he must either sell his labor at the price offered 
him by the capitalist or starve. Economic necessity is 
the invisible whip that drives him to his daily task; hence 
he is in reality a slave with liberty simply to change mas- 
ters. The present industrial system is based on the ex- 
ploitation of labor. As producers, the workingmen are ex- 
ploited by the capitalists; as consumers, by the middle 
classes; and as tenants, by the landlords. There can be no 
solution of the labor problem, conclude the socialists, with- 
out a dissolution of the capitalist system. 

Capitalist methods are the essence of chaos, wastefulness, 
and corruption. Overproduction one year and underpro- 
duction the next dislocate market conditions and cause 



572 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

panics which bring ruin and destitution to many. Com- 
j petition engenders wastefulness in energy, time, 

tence and money, and product, because competitors main- 
corruption ^ a j n se p ara te establishments with their attend- 
ant expenses. The various middlemen, from wholesaler to 
retailer, take toll from the product as it passes from 
producer to consumer. A centralized industry, argue the 
socialists, would save in countless ways by regulating the out- 
put of the whole of the product itself and by distributing it 
directly to the consumers. To be strictly honest in busi- 
ness, they furthermore declare, is to invite disaster; hence 
business men who would prefer to deal fairly are forced to 
adopt the methods of their dishonest competitors. Modern 
business reeks with corruption, from stock-watering by fin- 
anciers to putting sand in sugar by corner grocers. Swind- 
ling purchasers through dishonest advertisements and 
through adulteration have become widely existent. Colos- 
sal fortunes are made in stock exchanges by manipulating 
the market or by sheer gambling, frequently to the ruin of 
thousands of innocent investors. Capitalism, declare the 
socialists, has created a world in which the swindler, the 
manipulator, and the corruptionist prosper at the expense 
of millions of toilers who are thus condemned to misery and 
want. The much-vaunted freedom of enterprise of the cap- 
italist is largely the "freedom of a fox in a free hen-roost." 

Conversion to socialism is not an indication of a change 
of political belief only; it frequently means a change of at- 
Socialism: titude toward the problems of life, both private 
tude" toward anc ^ public. The convert to socialism rejects 
life many cherished traditions and principles that 

guide the thoughts and actions of his fellows. He is apt to 
question institutions of all kinds, religion, property, mar- 
riage, patriotism. In their earlier and more violent days, 
socialists were wont to attack these institutions as "bour- 
geois prejudices"; but in recent years they have concen- 
trated their attacks upon capitalist production, and re- 
gard religion and marriage as "private matters" in which 
they, as socialists, do not care to pronounce judgment. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 573 

As a program of action socialism has been the advance 
guard of radical political movements. It maintains a 
political party which, unlike all other political . 
parties, is international in scope. The socialists gram of ac- 
hold frequent international conventions repre- 
sentative of the socialist parties in every country to direct 
the common aims of socialism throughout the world. So- 
cialists are everywhere actively fighting reactionary meas- 
ures, exposing corruption, championing the cause of the 
labor unions in their struggles with capital, and, above all, 
maintaining a vigorous propaganda for their cause. 

Finally, as a future goal, socialism means the public 
ownership and democratic management of all means of 
production, factories, mines, railways, land, and As a future 
stores, and the distribution of wealth by public goal 
authority. It does not mean, as is popularly supposed, con- 
fiscating private property and dividing it equally among 
all the people. Quickly or slowly, as conditions may deter- 
mine, the public authorities in the central and local govern- 
ments will take over the ownership and operation of the 
industries. Under the socialist regime there will be one 
vast civil service: every one will be required to work at 
salaries fixed by the Government according to position 
and ability. People will continue to possess private per- 
sonal property, such as clothes, houses, books, and furni- 
ture, but not industrial property, such as factories, mines, 
or railways, which will be State monopolies. By this system, 
known as the Cooperative Commonwealth, socialists hope 
to abolish poverty and misery and to inaugurate the golden 
age of a happy humanity. 

(b) The Utopians 

The French Revolution had given a great impetus to 
schemes for reconstructing society. During the stirring 
days of that great upheaval men beheld in- Influence 
stitutions hallowed by age, custom, and senti- p ren c h R e v- 
ment vanish overnight, and new institutions sud- olution 
denly called into being. It is not surprising, therefore, that 



574 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

many came to believe that social institutions are merely 
creations of man who, by his own fiat, can easily usher in a 
new system of society and government provided he has his 
plan ready. This idea was common during the early part of 
the nineteenth century, especially in France, where it in- 
spired a group of social reformers, known as Utopians, 1 who 
desired to emancipate humanity from the evils of capital- 
ism as their fathers had set it free from feudalism. 

The first of the Utopians was Claude Henri, Comte de 
Saint-Simon (i 760-1 825), a wealthy French noble who, 
Saint- when a young man, had fought under Wash- 

Simon ington during the American Revolution. He 

became intensely interested in reforming mankind and 
spent his life and fortune advocating schemes of social re- 
construction, with the result that he became so poor that 
he was reduced to utter destitution. One of his projects 
was to unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by means of 
a canal. Saint-Simon's writings, scarcely known while he 
lived, attained influence after his death when a group, call- 
ing themselves "Saint-Simonians," began to advocate his 
ideas. Some of the members of this group later became 
famous. Foremost among them were the philosopher, Au- 
guste Comte; the engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps; and the 
economist, Michel Chevalier. Saint-Simon's important book, 
Nouveau Christianisme, is a fervent appeal for the estab- 
lishment of a new system of society, the new Christianity, 
for the purpose of ameliorating the lot of those who are 
at once "the most numerous and the most poor." This 
new society was to be based on the principle of "associa- 
tion" and not on that of "antagonism," the principle 
underlying present society. Land and capital were to be 
held in common, and the right of inheritance was to be 
abolished; property was to be shared on the principle of 
' ' from each according to his capacity and to each according 
to his need." Saint-Simon's views were hazy but sugges- 
tive, and they greatly influenced early socialistic thought. 

1 The Utopians were so named after the book, Utopia, by Sir Thomas More, 
which describes an ideal society. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 575 

Another famous Utopian was Charles Fourier (1772- 
1837) » whose published works presented a carefully worked- 
out ground-plan of the new society. Like Saint- 
Simon, Fourier believed that the chief evil of the 
present social system was its spirit of antagonism between 
persons, classes, religions, and countries. "Harmony" 
should be the basic principle of the new stage of civilization 
that the world was about to enter. He worked out a scheme 
of communal living to which he gave the name of phalan- 
stery : it was to comprise farm lands, workshops, and living 
apartments in which a phalanx, a group of about fifteen 
hundred persons, were to live and work cooperatively. A 
person entering a phalanstery would engage in such work 
as suited his tastes and desires; and he would be permitted 
to change his occupation freely until he found one con- 
genial to his temperament. It was Fourier's idea to allow 
free play to human instincts and passions which, he de- 
clared, frequently work harm because the present system of 
society gives them no legitimate outlet. Once an environ- 
ment was created which gave opportunities to all sorts of 
people to express themselves, harmony would result and 
the world would become peaceful and happy. Fourier's 
ideas were taken up by many ardent reformers of his day. 
They found an echo even in America in the famous Brook 
Farm Colony, which numbered among its members such 
men as George Ripley, Horace Greeley, and Nathaniel 
Hawthorne. 

A far different type of LTtopian was the Englishman, 
Robert Owen (1771-1858), practical business man, phil- 
anthropist, and reformer. At the age of nine- n 

/-\ 1 Owen 

teen Owen became the manager of a large cot- 
ton mill in New Lanark, Scotland, of which he later be- 
came the chief proprietor. New Lanark was a wretched 
factory town inhabited by a laboring class sunk in poverty, 
squalor, and drunkenness. Owen's heart was touched by 
this state of affairs, and he energetically set about trans- 
forming the place ; for he believed firmly that a good environ- 
ment would result in an improved population. Owen gave 



576 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

his employees good wages; he improved factory conditions; 
he organized schools for the children; and he built whole- 
some houses for his operatives. New Lanark was trans- 
formed into a model town with happy, contented people. 
In spite of the additional expense, Owen's business contin- 
ued to prosper and his factory became a place of pilgrimage 
for people who were interested in the experiment. Owen, 
however, was not content to play the part of a benevolent 
despot. He was a man of fine mind as well as of great 
heart; and he believed that true reform lay in people solv- 
ing their own problems and not in having them solved for 
them by "good men." He therefore became deeply inter- 
ested in schemes of social reform and was converted to 
socialism, J to which he devoted his life and fortune. Owen 
was active in establishing communistic colonies in many 
parts of the world. Believing that America, being a new 
country, would offer a freer field for social experiments, he 
came to Indiana in 1825 and founded a colony called New 
Harmony. For many years Owen was a notable figure in 
English public life and a leader in the radical movements 
of his day. 2 

Utopianism was essentially a humanitarian movement. 
It made no special appeals to the working classes for sup- 
T , ( ., port and was, therefore, not inclined to be rev- 

The failure ^ m ' ' 

of Utopian- olutionary in its methods. Saint-Simon ap- 
pealed even to the Pope and to King Louis XVIII 
of France to establish his ideal society. Fourier was regu- 
larly at home every day at noon for twelve years, hoping 
that philanthropists would come to finance his scheme. 
Kings and other famous persons were welcomed at New Lan- 
ark by Owen, who was eager to convince them of the bene- 
ficence of his reforms. Utopians, however, were generally 
regarded as unpractical, fantastic persons. Their schemes 
were discredited partly because their colonies proved 
failures and partly because of their attacks on religion and 

1 It is said that the word "socialism" was coined by Owen; it was then 
synonymous with "utopianism." 

2 See pp. 66, 344. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 577 

the family. Moreover, it was displaced by a new move- 
ment, first called communism and later socialism, which 
broke sharply with Utopian schemes and founded its 
philosophy and methods on an entirely different basis. 

(c) Karl Marx 

The father of modern socialism was Karl Marx (1818- 
83), who was born in Trier, Rhenish Prussia. The family 
of Marx were well-to-do Jews who had been Karl Marx: 
converted to Christianity, in which faith young hls early llfe 
Karl was reared. He went to the Universities of Bonn and 
Berlin to study law, but found that his interests lay rather 
in the fields of philosophy and history. Like many other 
young Germans of this period he became an ardent admirer 
of the philosophy of Hegel, who was then the guiding star 
of the rising generation of German intellectuals. In 1842, 
at the age of twenty-four, Marx became the editor of a 
radical paper, the Rheinische Zeitung, which was suppressed 
by the censor a year later because of its attacks on the 
Government. Shortly afterwards ' Marx was married to 
Jenny von Westphalen, whose family belonged to the 
Prussian nobility; but the young couple were not des- 
tined to spend their lives in peace and plenty. Hearing of 
the new social doctrines preached by the French Utopians, 
Marx determined to know more of them and their ideas; 
accordingly, he and his young bride left their native land 
and went to live in Paris. Henceforth, to the day of his 
death, Marx's life was one of long exile, sometimes that of a 
hunted agitator driven from land to land, at other times a 
poverty-stricken recluse poring over books in the British 
Museum. Throughout all his vicissitudes, his wife was his 
faithful and loving companion, sharing his exile, privation, 
and obloquy. 

Marx's visit to Paris was the beginning of his new life and 
of his new ideas. There he fell under the in- Hig Hfe in 
fluence of the Saint-Simonians whose doctrines Paris and 
awoke new trains of thought in his mind, for 
until then he had been merely a political Liberal. In Paris 



578 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

he met Friedrich Engels (1820-95), wn ° became his lifelong 
friend and co-worker. Like himself, Engels came of well-to- 
do German parents, but he nevertheless dedicated his life 
to the service of the working class. Marx was driven out of 
Paris in 1845 and fled to Brussels, where he joined an 
association of radicals calling itself the Communist League. 
In 1848 this organization issued the famous Communist 
Manifesto, "the birth-cry of modern socialism," which was 
written by Marx and Engels. When the Revolution of 
1848 took place in Germany, Marx left for Cologne, where 
he became the editor of a socialist paper which was, how- 
ever, soon suppressed and Marx was expelled from Germany. 
He then fled to London, where he lived to the end of his 
life, devoting himself almost entirely to study and writing. 
During this period of almost thirty-four years, he and his 
wife suffered the greatest privation, often lacking the neces- 
sities of life. He supported himself partly by writing for the 
New York Tribune, then under the editorship of Horace 
Greeley. The result of Marx's labors in London was his 
famous book, Das Kapital. In spite of the fact that it is a 
serious work on economics and is in many parts quite ob- 
scure, no book since Rousseau's Social Contract has had such 
an enormous and far-reaching influence. It has been trans- 
lated into almost every living language and has become a 
bible for socialists in every part of the civilized world. 

Marx was one of the great figures of the nineteenth cen- 
tury and a world force like Luther and Voltaire. He pos- 
Ch sessed an unusual combination of qualities, pro- 

and influence found learning, striking originality, a keen 
mind, and, at times, a rare gift for literary ex- 
pression. This scholar, philosopher, and agitator was a 
man of stern, unbending uprightness, with indomitable will 
power and dynamic energy. He was indeed well fitted to be 
the spokesman of the most revolutionary thought of the 
nineteenth century. 

To this very day the recognized principles of socialism, 
those that inspire fear in its opponents and hope in its 
adherents, are Marxian, pure and simple. They are clearly 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 579 

and forcefully expressed in the Communist Manifesto, a bril- 
liantly written pamphlet designed to appeal 
to the working classes. These principles are: 

The materialistic interpretation of history. "In every his- 
toric epoch," reads the preface to the Communist Mani- 
festo, "the prevailing mode of economic production and 
exchange, and the social organization necessarily following 
from it, form the basis upon which is built up, and from 
which alone can be explained, the political and intellectual 
history of that epoch." In other words, the entire course of 
history in all its manifold phases has been determined by 
economic conditions. Ideas and emotions centering within 
race, religion, culture, and fatherland are declared to be 
"ideological veils" obscuring the real motive forces, which 
are material. Nothing is left to chance; everything is pre- 
determined. Socialists declare the materialistic interpre- 
tation of history to be "the one pass-key which will un- 
lock all the secrets of the past." 

The class struggle. "The history of all hitherto existing 
society," begins the Manifesto, "is the history of class 
struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord 
and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor 
and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one an- 
other, carried on an uninterrupted fight, now hidden, now 
open, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolution- 
ary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common 
ruin of the contesting classes." Out of the economic divi- 
sions of society arise classes of exploiters and exploited 
which correspond in the political sphere to the governors 
and the governed. In a capitalist society founded on wage 
labor the exploiters and governors are the bourgeoisie, 
and the exploited and the governed are the proletariat. 1 
In the past the historic stage was the scene of conflict be- 
tween landlord and peasant, now it is between capitalist 
and workingman. The Manifesto sings a psean of praise to 

1 "By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the 
means of social production and employers of wage labor; by proletariat, the 
class of modern wage-laborers who, having no means of production of their 
own, are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live." — Engels. 



580 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the bourgeoisie as the revolutionary class that has swept 
away "all fixed, fast-frozen relations with their train of 
ancient prejudices and opinions" characteristic of the feudal 
and ancient worlds, and that has inaugurated the modern 
dynamic world in which constant change is the law of life, 
and in which all newly formed institutions become "an- 
tiquated before they can ossify." The bourgeoisie, being 
masters of society, are necessarily masters of the State, 
which is merely an "executive committee" for the man- 
agement of their common affairs. "Society as a whole is 
splitting up more and more into two great hostile camps, 
into two great classes facing each other, bourgeoisie and 
proletariat," the only bond between them being "cash 
payment." It is, therefore, of vital importance for the 
proletariat to become "class conscious"; namely, to recog- 
nize that all laborers have common interests which are 
irreconcilably opposed to those of the capitalists. This 
common interest must always be first and foremost in the 
minds of the working class, to whom law, morality, and reli- 
gion are "so many bourgeois prejudices, behind which lurk 
in ambush so many bourgeois interests." Class conscious- 
ness will result in class solidarity, which is essential to the 
proletariat in their struggle to overthrow the capitalist 
system. 

Surplus value. The fundamental doctrine of Marx's 
economic system, and the central theme of Das Kapital, 
is known as the theory of "surplus value." According to 
Marx the exchange, or market, value of a commodity is 
determined, not by the amount and character of raw 
material that is put into it, but solely by the amount and 
character of the total labor power necessary to produce 
this commodity: to state this doctrine more briefly, la- 
bor is the source of all value. It is necessary to add that 
by "labor" Marx means both mental and physical labor; the 
well-paid superintendent of a factory as well as the poorly 
paid operative is a "laborer." Of the total value produced, 
the workingmen get a small part in the form of wages ; the 
rest, or surplus value, is appropriated by the capitalist in 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 581 

the form of profits. This method of exploiting labor is the 
very essence of the capitalist system, but under a just sys- 
tem of distribution to be created by socialism, the working- 
men will receive the full product of their toil ; exploitation 
will cease, as all value created by labor will go to labor. 

Inevitability of socialism. "Capitalism produces above 
all its own grave-diggers," states the Manifesto. Centrali- 
zation of industry and of labor is, according to Marx, the 
inevitable tendency of the modern system of production; 
more and more will the capitalists combine, and wealth will 
be consequently in fewer and fewer hands. As with capital, 
so with labor. The factory tends to centralize many labor- 
ers of different trades and localities and to reduce them to 
a common wage level, for all workingmen are equal before 
the machine. Their lot will steadily grow worse, till finally 
they are reduced to a state of semi-pauperism. Into the 
ranks of the proletariat will sink the middle classes, shop- 
keepers, small farmers, and professional people, ground 
out of existence by the upper and nether millstones of 
capital and labor. In time there will be facing each other 
only two classes, the propertied few and the propertyless 
many. To save themselves from destruction, the working 
class will be compelled to overthrow capitalism and to 
establish the Cooperative Commonwealth, in which class 
rule will be forever abolished. This change will be accom- 
plished by force if necessary, but preferably through the 
peaceful action of parliaments controlled by representatives 
of the proletariat. Unlike other revolutions, which were 
the work of minorities, the socialist revolution will be the 
first truly democratic one, as the working class constitutes 
the majority of the population. In a notable passage Marx 
thus summarizes the inevitability of socialism. "Centrali- 
zation of the means of production and socialization of labor 
at last reach a point where they become incompatible with 
their capitalist integument. This integument is burst 
asunder. The knell of capitalism is sounded. The expro- 
priators are expropriated." 

Internationalism. "The proletarians have nothing to 



582 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

lose but their chains; they have a whole world to win. 
Workingmen of all countries, unite!" concludes the Mani- 
festo. In their struggle for emancipation the workingmen 
must not be diverted from their goal by patriotism, for the 
proletarian has no country, only a birthplace. All socialists 
are "comrades," whatever be their nationality. Class in- 
terests must, therefore, always take precedence over na- 
tional interests, even in times of war, as there is more in 
common between the workingmen of different countries 
than between workingmen and capitalists of the same coun- 
try. Modern wars, the socialists assert, are due to the 
machinations of capitalists, who rouse the masses of the 
various nations to slaughter one another for the benefit of 
the capitalists. This does not mean that socialists advocate 
the abolition of national frontiers; what they advocate is 
the organization of the world into an international federal 
union which will lead to the establishment of permanent 
peace and to fraternal relations between different peoples. 
Marxism, which is sometimes called "scientific social- 
ism," is grounded on the theory of social evolution. Capi- 
Scientific talism, according to Marx, is not an evil system 
plan'sodal- i nmc ted on the world by wicked men, but a 
ism stage, and a necessary one, in the development 

of mankind ; and socialism is not an ideal commonwealth to 
be called into being by enthusiastic reformers, but the logi- 
cal and inevitable outcome of capitalism. Marx had scant 
sympathy with ready-made schemes to reorganize society 
off-hand, and he sarcastically referred to the Utopian ex- 
periments as "duodecimo editions of the New Jerusalem." 
For the first time in the nineteenth century, a philosophy 
appeared which gave assurance to millions that the stars 
in their courses, were fighting the battle of the proletariat, 
whose emancipation might be delayed but not frustrated 
by the antagonism of the propertied classes. The socialism 
that emerged from Marx was bristling with the heavy 
armament of a new philosophy, a new economics, and a 
new international organization that immediately began an 
aggressive war on capitalism. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 583 

(d) Criticism of Socialism 

To the challenge of socialism its opponents reply that, 
although present society is far from toeing perfect, the rem- 
edy is not socialism, but social reform. Were ~ . ,. 

... • 1 • • . r socialism, 

socialism, with its regimentation of humanity enemy of 
into an office-holding hierarchy, ever to come, progress 
it would destroy initiative and enterprise by eliminating 
the incentive to gain; and the consequence would be most 
calamitous for the progress of mankind. Socialism would not 
eliminate the class struggle; it would, in fact, accentuate it. 
All being office-holders, a struggle would ensue for the best 
places in the Government, and the political faction in con- 
trol would be able to exercise an intolerable tyranny over 
their less fortunate fellows who, having no other avenue 
for a livelihood, would have to submit. Politics would 
then become the one channel for all discontent, and rev- 
olutions would be more apt to take place under a socialist 
regime than under the present system, in which discontent 
expresses itself through many channels. 

Marxian analyses and prophecies are declared by anti- 
socialists to be faulty. They maintain that the economic 
interpretation of history is a gross exaggeration, „, 

, , , • 7- • , , , , Materialism 

and that by its crass materialism it holds a low 
view of human nature. If economic motives played their 
part in the great epochs of history, so did racial, religious, 
cultural, and patriotic; it is impossible to say which one of 
these motives was most influential in any given period of 
history. Men are not sharply divided into three -, 
classes but into many, whose interests and ideals class division 
shade into one another so imperceptibly that fre- 
quently the interests of one group of laborers harmonize 
more with those of capitalists than they do with those of an- 
other group of laborers. The only true goal is the welfare of 
all classes, that is, the entire community, and not that of one 
class, the laborers. Furthermore, "the increas- increasing 
ing misery" prophecy of Marx has not been ful- P ros P ent y 
filled, because the average workingman is now better fed, 



584 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

housed, clothed, and cared for than at any previous period. 
Nor, also, are the middle classes disappearing; on the con- 
trary, they are constantly increasing in numbers and in 
influence. The concentration of industry is admitted by 
anti-socialists, and they advocate government regulation of 
great corporations; but this concentration, they add, has 
not taken place in agriculture, in which the tendency is 
toward the division of great estates into small peasant 
properties. "Surplus value" as an economic doctrine is 
essentially untrue, for it leaves out of consideration the 
j leading part played by capital in the creation of 

r6le of cap- value by initiating enterprises and by directing 
their development. Without capital labor is of 
no value at all; hence the laborers are not an exploited 
class but share in the product, though at times to an in- 
sufficient degree; higher wages, shorter hours, and better 
conditions generally will eliminate whatever exploitation 
now exists. Anti-socialists indignantly deny that the work- 
„ . . ingman is a man without a country or even that 

Patriotism & . .... 

of the work- he thinks that he is. Patriotism is the monopoly 
mg class o £ no c j ass . j t j s t Y\e common emotion of a com- 
munity with common ideals and traditions; and in proof 
they instance the spontaneous loyalty of the working class 
to the flag in times of national crises. 

The term "socialism " is frequently used to designate ideas 
quite different from and even hostile to the revolutionary 
State so- working-class movement that goes by this name. 
ciahsm gy s t a t e socialism is meant the interference of 

the State in the affairs of capital and labor through regula- 
tion and through social legislation. Capital is regulated 
as to investments, prices, and rates; and labor, as to hours, 
wages, and factory conditions. Railway rate-fixing, eight- 
hour and minimum wage laws are good examples of state 
socialism. Another important aspect of the latter is the 
system of social insurance inaugurated by Bismarck in 
Germany and by Lloyd George in England. 1 The essential 
idea of state socialism, as expounded by the well-known 

1 See pp. 294 ff; 364 ff. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 585 

German economists, Professors Wagner and Schmoller, is 
to maintain the present economic system intact, but to give 
its benefits to labor as well as to capital. 

"Christian socialist" is a term used to describe a type of 
social reformer whose aim is to apply the principles of 
Christianity to our economic system, which he Christian 
condemns as unchristian because of the suffer- sociausm 
ing it entails among the laboring classes. The Christian 
socialist is as much opposed to the materialism and class 
hatred of Marxism * as he is to the ruthless competition and 
laissez faire of individualism. Some of the Christian social- 
ists accept the ideal of the Cooperative Commonwealth 
and agitate for its establishment through moral and reli- 
gious appeals. But most of them are really state socialists; 
for they are opposed to a radical change in the present eco- 
nomic system and wish merely to see it improved through 
social legislation. The English writer and reformer, Charles 
Kingsley, the French writer and reformer, Abbe Lamennais, 
and the German Catholic Bishop, Ketteler, were prominent 
exponents of Christian socialism during the middle of the 
nineteenth century. In May, 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued 
a famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum, in which he de- 
clared that the hostility between capital and labor was 
growing because of the tyranny and the greed of employ- 
ers, and that the condition of the lower classes must be 
improved. But the remedy was not socialism, for its prin- 
ciples violate the natural right to property and incite to 
class hatred, which is unchristian. Harmonious relations 
between capital and labor was the solution of the social 
problem, and he enjoined workingmen to be peaceful and 
loyal to their employers and the latter to treat their men 
as Christian freemen and not to exploit them as slaves. 
This encyclical inspired many Catholics to advocate poli- 
cies in favor of social reforms. The Center Party of Ger- 
many and the Catholic Party of Belgium have been very 
active in this direction. To Marxian socialism the Catholic 
Church has shown uncompromising hostility; and in almost 

1 See pp. 579 ff. 



586 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

every country Catholics and socialists are bitterly opposed 
to each other. 

(e) The Socialist " International" 

The beginnings of the great socialist international organi- 
zation were made in 1862 on the occasion of the London 
The "Inter- International Exhibition, when a body of French 
national" workingmen were entertained by their English 
fellows. Again, in 1864, there was held a great meeting 
in London of workers from many countries, at which an 
organization known as the "International" was formed. 
This body contained radicals of all sorts, English trade 
unionists, Polish and Italian nationalists, German socialists, 
Russian nihilists, and anarchists. Its constitution was drawn 
up by Marx, who committed the "International" to the 
doctrines of socialism, with the result that the moderate ele- 
ments left the body. Later the radicals split into two violent 
factions, one composed of socialists led by Marx and the 
other of anarchists led by Bakunin ; 1 and after a bitter 
struggle the latter and his followers were ousted from the 
organization by Marx. For a time the "International" in- 
spired a fear in Governments of Europe that it would become 
the rallying-point for a general uprising of the working class. 
After holding congresses for about ten years the "Inter- 
national" quietly disbanded and gave place to a new type 
of international association, one representative of the so- 
cialist parties in every country. The new socialist or- 
ganization, in its international congresses, recognized the 
nation as the basis of representation, delegates being ap- 
portioned according to the size of a country ; and even de- 
pendent nations, like Bohemia, Poland, Finland, Canada, 
and Australia were allowed representation. The growth of 
international socialism has been phenomenal. In 1914 it 
polled about eleven million votes and elected over seven 
hundred representatives to the various parliaments. The 
socialist parties are efficiently organized and ably led, with 
dues-paying members, a well-edited press, and an enthusi- 

1 See p. 598. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 587 

astic corps of volunteer workers, who proclaim the gospel of 
socialism in all places and at all times. 

It is of interest to trace the history of socialism in the 
important European countries. Germany was the home of 
the new movement in all its phases, and the Ferdinand 
socialists throughout the world took their philo- Lassalle 
sophy from Marx and their methods and policies from the 
German Social Democratic Party. The founder of this 
famous organization was Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-65), 
the son of a wealthy Jewish merchant of Breslau. Like 
Marx, Lassalle was a deep student of philosophy and his- 
tory and an active, eager propagandist. This intellectual 
agitator had received all the advantages that wealth and 
education could bestow, and he once declared, "Every line 
that I write, I do so fortified with the whole culture of my 
century." Possessed of a chivalrous, romantic temperament 
as well as of a brilliant mind, Lassalle became the idol of 
the German working classes, whose cause he warmly cham- 
pioned. His fascinating personality charmed all who came 
in contact with him, so that he was a favorite even in aristo- 
cratic circles. Bismarck himself welcomed him as a friend, 
and it is believed that he adopted universal suffrage for 
the Reichstag through Lassalle's influence. 

In his pamphlet, The Working Class Program, published 
in 1863, Lassalle says that history may be divided into 
three periods : (1) the period prior to the French TT . , 

, . 1 • , , -11 1 1 Hls theories 

Revolution, which was dominated by the landed 
aristocracy; (2) that between the French Revolution and 
the Revolution of 1848, dominated by the bourgeoisie; and 
(3) that since the Revolution of 1848, in which the aspira- 
tions of the working class have been the dominant feature. 
Under the capitalist system it is impossible for the working- 
men to better their condition, as they are subject to the 
"iron law of wages" which allows them merely enough to 
live and to reproduce their kind. An increase in wages is fol- 
lowed by an increase in the number of working-class fami- 
lies; hence their standard of living remains ever the same. 
Only the interference of the State can save them from this 



588 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

evil and hopeless situation. He therefore urged that the 
State advance money to workingmen to form cooperative 
productive associations, which would eventually lead to 
the public ownership of the means of production. Lassalle 
declared that the bourgeois conception of the State was 
that of a "night watchman" whose function was to guard 
life and property ; but for the working class the State was 
the greatest agency for benefiting mankind in every possible 
way. As long as the working class was economically de- 
pendent it could never be politically or morally free ; hence 
socialism was the only solution: under a socialist regime 
capital would be the servant, not the master, of labor. Un- 
like Marx, Lassalle was a strong nationalist and a great 
admirer of Prussia as the supreme type of a strongly or- 
ganized State, able to solve the problems of the working 
class provided its direction was in their hands. 

In 1863 Lassalle founded the General Workingmen's 
Association, which adopted his program. It failed, how- 
The"Eise- ever, to attract many followers. Two years 
and the later Lassalle was killed in a duel over a love 

Lassalleans affair, which left the organization in a precari- 
ous state. In 1869 Wilhelm Liebknecht, a radical journalist, 
and August Bebel, a wood-turner, both converts to Marx- 
ism, organized the Social Democratic Labor Party, which 
met at Eisenach and adopted a Marxian program. The 
" Eisenachers," as the latter were called, and the Lassalleans 
were for a time rivals for the favor of the German working 
class; but they united at Gotha in 1875 to form the polit- 
ical party that later became known as the Social Demo- 
cratic Party. In the Reichstag elections of 1877 the Social 
Democrats received about half a million votes and won 
twelve seats. 

Bismarck became apprehensive and he determined to 
stem the "red flood" by drastic measures. The struggle 
The Erfurt that followed between the Government and the 
Program socialists has already been described elsewhere ; * 
its outcome was, as we have seen, a distinct triumph for 

1 See pp. 292 ff . 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 589 

the latter. In 1891, soon after the repeal of the anti- 
socialist laws, a congress of the Social Democrats was 
held at Erfurt. It revised the Gotha Program which ad- 
vocated the ideas of both Marx and Lassalle, and adopted 
one that was purely Marxian. This Erfurt Program later 
became the model for the socialist parties in all countries. 
Its maximum demands were the abolition of private capi- 
tal and the establishment of the Cooperative Common- 
wealth; but it included minimum demands, or immediate 
reforms, the most important of which were woman suf- 
frage, equal, direct, and secret suffrage for all legislatures, 
proportional representation, the substitution of a popular 
militia for the standing army, full freedom of speech and as- 
sembly, civil equality of men and women, separation of 
Church and State, free secular education, heavy income 
and inheritance taxes, a universal eight-hour work-day, 
and factory reforms. 

The growth of German socialism has been phenomenal, 
as nearly every election has seen a large increase in its vote. 1 
The socialist leader, Bebel, a self-educated work- Peaceful 
ingman, developed marked ability as a parliamen- methods of 
tary orator and tactician. He was a man of high 
ideals and inflexible character, greatly admired by his op- 
ponents as-well as by his devoted followers. Large numbers 
of progressives among the middle classes, disgusted with 
the timorous- attitude of the Liberal parties toward politi- 

1 The following table shows in round numbers the Socialist vote for the 
Reichstag: — 

Votes Seats 

1871 124,500 2 

1874 35 2 - 000 IO 

1877 493.ooo 13 

1878 437,ooo 9 

1881 312,000 13 

1884 550,000 24 

1887 763,000 n 

1890 1,427,000 35 

1893 1,787,000 44 

1898 2,107,000 56 

1903 3,011,000 81 

1907 3,260,000 43 

1912 4,250,000 no 



590 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cal reform, began to vote "red" as a protest against autoc- 
racy and militarism in Germany, thus swelling the ranks 
of the Social Democrats. To fight "with intellectual weap- 
ons" only and to discountenance violence of all kinds 
was the policy of the party from its birth, because it 
felt certain of dominating the Reichstag in the course of 
time. 

At the beginning of the twentieth century a new ten- 
dency in German socialism known as "revisionism" ap- 
" Revision- peared which attracted considerable attention, 
ism" j ts spokesman was Eduard Bernstein, a socialist 

journalist, whose writings roused a storm of opposition 
which threatened to divide the party. Bernstein boldly de- 
clared that not all of Marx's prophecies had been fulfilled : 
the rich were not growing richer and the poor, poorer; the 
middle class was not disappearing, but increasing; the 
consolidation of industry did not mean the consolidation of 
wealth, because of the larger number of small shareholders; 
and peasant proprietorship was increasing. Hence the 
time had come to "revise" Marxian theories and tactics. 
The "revisionists" fully accepted socialism as an ultimate 
goal, but they urged that the Social Democrats work "less 
for the better future and more for the better present" by 
cooperating with the progressive forces in German political 
life. They declared that the mass of workingmen were un- 
willing to wait "until some fine day when the roast pigeons 
of the socialist revolution would fly into their mouths," 
but desired immediate reforms. The leadership of the party 
was, however, in the hands of the "orthodox" socialists, 
who stood hard and fast by Marxism and who empha- 
sized the revolutionary aspects of socialism by holding 
aloof from all other parties. They declared that reforms 
were "bribes" offered by the Government to the workers in 
order to quiet their demands for fundamental changes; 
that agitation and criticism were the only legitimate activ- 
ities of socialists in a capitalistic society; and that the 
only function of their representatives in Parliament was 
"to speak through its windows" to the masses without. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 591 

These two opposing views did not lead to a split in the 
party, but to efforts of each faction to control its policies. 

The growth of socialism in France was seriously retarded 
by the Commune. Its ideas and methods were discredited 
and its leaders imprisoned and exiled as a result Socialism in 
of the bloody uprising of 1871. Soon after the France 
exiled communists were permitted to return, a vigorous 
socialist agitation was begun among the French working 
classes. One of the returned exiles was Jules Guesde, 
who had spent several years in Germany and who came 
back filled with admiration for the theoretical system of 
Marx and for the unity and discipline of the German So- 
cial Democrats. He devoted himself tirelessly to trying to 
induce the French workingmen to follow the German model, 
but they showed a temperamental distaste for the rigor of 
Marxism as well as for the discipline of the Social Demo- 
crats. A number of socialist factions appeared in the early 
eighties, each with its own views and methods, the Guesdists, 
the Broussists, and the Allemanists, so called after their 
leaders, Guesde, Brousse, and Allemane. In 1893 a group 
calling itself the "Independent Socialists" was organized 
by Jaures and Millerand, anti-Marxians, who believed in 
progressive socialization of the means of production. In 
general, the French socialists were of two kinds: Marxians, 
who closely followed their German master, and "possibil- 
ists," or "reformists," who favored the more moderate pol- 
icy of progressive social reform with socialism as the ulti- 
mate aim. In spite of these divisions, the Socialists polled 
about half a million votes in the elections of 1893 and elected 
forty members to the Chamber. 

Two dominating personalities came to the fore as leaders 
of French socialism, Guesde and Jaures. Jules Guesde 
(1845- ), a rigid adherent of the principles and „ , 
methods of Marx, was profoundly convinced 
that the world was predestined to socialism. He therefore 
would not tolerate any modification of its plan of social 
salvation. "No compromise with the bourgeois State and 
no alliance with bourgeois parties," was his policy. The 



---_- M : 7 :- AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

proletaria: nrast tcitate till it gains control: then a socialist 
national assembly will abolish capitalism in the same man- 
in which feudalism was abolished in 1789. 
A Ear dfferent type was an . - [859-1914 who 

gained world renown as the greatest orator of his day. 
Jaures began his career as a professor of phil- 
- : phy. Later he entered politics, first as a 
radical Republican, then as a Socialist. Because of his emi- 
nence as an ora: r 5 . ." r I aihamenlary tactician. 

ime to be known as thf rld's leading Socialist. Un- 
- was an opportunist, for he fav 
the peaceful penetration : r r;.:; by sociafism "until 
the pr l etarian and socialist 51 shall have replaced the 
oligarchic and bour e - State." He therefore advised his 
followers to join the Radicals in the Chamber in their 
war upon the royalists and clericals and in their efforts to 
better the conditions of the lower classes through social 
I siarj 

Dreyfus Affair brought further division into the 

ranks of French socialism. Guesde and Jaures differed 

The Dreyfus violently as to what attitude the Socialists 

sh :-uld take toward the Affair. The former be- 

tfaat they should remain neutral, but the latter 

the side of Dreyfus with passionate ardor, and played an 

important part in the celebrated case and in the events that 

followed. When the Cabinet of Republican Defense was 

organized by Waldeck- an, the Socialist, Alexandre 

rrand. was made a minister with the consent of Jaures. 

] - nused the bitter opposifj n of Gnesde ai 

normced Millerand as a "h held by 

a bourgeois Government for the good behavior \: th 
rial-'--- At the interna:: r ifet congresE al 

dam _ r.troduced a res be the 

that no bona-fide socialist : be permitted : 

office in a bourgeois cabinet. This resolution led to a notable 
debate between Bebel. representing the "orth ving, 

and Jaures. the r efo r mi st ogress supported the 

former and recommended, that the various French factions 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR M VEME PS 593 

unite in one part} - with a common poll 
the decision, and there ed Soc:_ " 

Party of France which, in subsequer as made large 

gains both in seats and in v bes. 3 

In bet that Enf the ; lassie Ian 

capitalism, the growth of socialism in that country has been 

f slow - - .gmen have genera'.. .^ 

looked to the Liberals for political rri : rm an 
their trade unions for economic better". . a t 1 b e pionee r - 

Henry M H r.inian and the poet. 
am Morris - rr - 

:::.::: Federation on str ;• Marxian principles. Bu: 
body failed to make mm .h headway among v 

-- -;S ir_i s. r. r: nr 'zation, called the '"Indeper. 

Labor Part} was formed in 1893 Keir 
lar trade uni mist The "I.L.F : . : 1 . ism as the 

ultimate goal, but it was "refor mi st " inasmuch as it re- 
jected Mar?::-::. - " - - 
organized the famous Fabian Society, to which were at- 
tracted some of the intellectual elite of England, George 
Bernard Shaw H. G. ' Veils, S nd S 
and Beatrice Webb. The Fabians wa - in prin- 
ciple us and the "reformists : 
differed from both in re: gtt commit the any 
party; to them socialism was a principle of social action, 
not a formula or party platform. They proposed to follow 
a "Fal ian" : . :; - and sought to influence all parties and 
all sections of opinion in fa .-rial reforms. This 
group of brilliant in: als carried on: 
tion and succeeded in - 
its historic polic : i.ism. ^n^se 

- 7-z::..:~.r_ :_.--. ~ :::= ;:.--- :•:' tie r.srr — 

'-'::■:: S:z:: 

I906 -N0OO 

1910 - : 

1914 : 5 000 

• T - . ..- ■ -. " " - ------ 

Fir:-? :r.e I i . - -. - - " -- - " - - - "-" --""-- - -~ - ' -'-' c _ ~? r .: :: ;- 

nem in a decisive battle, but to wear them act by many attacks. 



594 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

several socialistic groups joined with the trade unions in 
1906 to form the Labor Party 1 which, for the time being, 
refused to commit itself to the doctrines of socialism. It 
contented itself with demanding labor reforms and supported 
the Liberal Government to obtain them. The Labor Party 
although composed in the main of conservative trade 
unionists, was led by Socialists, Keir Hardie, J. Ramsay 
MacDonald, and Philip Snowden. In 1914 it adopted a 
resolution in favor of the collective ownership of capital 
and land; but this resolution was merely nominal, for its 
tactics remained unchanged. 2 

Austrian socialism took its doctrines and methods from 
Germany. Owing to the racial divisions and to a restricted 
Austrian suffrage, it was not till 1901 that a Socialist 
socialism Party appeared in Austrian politics. When uni- 
versal suffrage was granted in 1907 the Socialists scored 
their first important success by polling over a million votes 
and by electing more than eighty members to the Reichsrat. 
Racial differences, however, divided the Socialists into na- 
tional groups, Bohemian, German, Polish, and Slavonian, 
so that their progress has been slow. Socialism in Hungary 
is still in its protesting stage, as Hungary does not yet have 
a system of universal suffrage and, like Austria, is rent by 
racial antagonisms. 

In Italy there took place a long struggle between the 
socialists and anarchists, each trying to commit the work- 
Italian so- ing class to their doctrines. A Workingmen's 
ciahsm Party composed of both these elements was or- 

ganized in 1885; later the anarchists were expelled and the 
party was reorganized on a socialist basis. Many middle- 
class intellectuals, the best known of whom were Professors 
Ferri and Labriola, joined the Socialists and became their 
leaders. Italian Socialists, like those in France, were di- 
vided by the rivalries of the Marxians and the "reformists" ; 

1 See p. 347. 

2 In 1918 the Labor Party adopted an important change in its constitu- 
tion. All workers " by hand or brain " were invited to join its ranks; hitherto, 
only members of trade unions and socialist societies were eligible to member- 
ship in the Labor Party. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 595 

however, a congress, held in 1906, decided in favor of the 
latter, and the two factions, for a time, healed their differ- 
ences. But the Tripolitan War, supported by some mem- 
bers and opposed by others, once more rent the party in 
twain. In spite of this division and in spite of the strong 
rivalry of syndicalism, Italian socialism attracted so con- 
siderable a following that in the elections of 191 3 it polled 
about a million votes and captured seventy seats. 1 

Though socialists differed radically in their views of many 
matters, there was one article in their creed upon which 
they were in complete unanimity, and that Opposition 
was hostility to militarism. They everywhere tomiHtar- S 
consistently opposed standing armies and they is™ 
regularly voted against military budgets. In Germany the 
socialists had stubbornly fought against the influence of 
the army in the Government. In France, they had gone 
to the length of launching an anti-militaristic crusade 
which seriously threatened the morale of the French army. 
Jaures flouted the revanche and sought to establish good 
relations between his country and Germany. Nevertheless, 
socialists believed in defending their country against in- 
vasion. Bebel himself had once declared that German so- 
cialists would fight shoulder to shoulder with the bourgeoisie 
were Germany invaded by Russia, "a barbarian who is 
the greatest enemy of our [socialist] aspirations." Jaures, 
too, believed that aggression should be fought, and he de- 
clared that the nation who refused to submit its case to 
arbitration was to be considered the aggressor. 

What socialists should do in case of a European conflict 
was frequently discussed at their international meetings. 
At the Congress of Stuttgart, in 1907, the French Socialists 
delegates proposed that a general strike of all and war 
labor should be called in case of a general war. But the 
German delegates succeeded in defeating this resolution 
and in carrying one which declared that, should a war 
threaten, socialists should vigorously oppose it; but should 
it come nevertheless, they should then strive to bring about 

1 The progress of socialism in Russia has already been described on pp. 557 ff. 



596 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

an early peace. At the Congress of Copenhagen, in 1910, 
another resolution favoring a general strike in case of war 
was introduced. But the German delegates succeeded in 
postponing action on it to the next congress. 1 When the 
military budget of 191 3 came before the Reichstag, 2 the 
Social Democrats astonished every one by voting for it. As 
this action was unprecedented, they apologetically declared 
that it was because the burden of expense would fall on 
the wealthy classes through the new income and property 
taxes provided in the law. The French Socialists, on the 
contrary, led the opposition to the Three Years' Military 
Law, 3 and Jaures was roundly denounced as an enemy of 
his country by those who advocated that measure. 

During the anxious days between July 28 and August 4, 
1 9 14, when war clouds were rapidly gathering, the socialists 
Socialists in all countries organized peace demonstrations, 
thei? Gov- On July 30 Jaures made a stirring address at 
ernments in a p- rea t mass meeting in Brussels in which he 

the World & ° 

War warned the Governments of Europe against 

plunging the world into a general conflict and threatened 
them with a general strike. Shortly afterwards he was assas- 
sinated in Paris by a man who regarded him as a traitor. 
When Germany declared war, all eyes were turned toward 
the Social Democrats in the Reichstag. To the amazement 
of the world the socialist delegation supported the Govern- 
ment and unanimously voted for the war credits. Their 
defense was that as Germany was being invaded by the 
Russians, it was their duty to defend the Fatherland. 4 
The Austrian socialists followed their example. There was 
now no alternative for the socialists in the Allied countries 
but to do likewise. The French socialists thereupon voted 
for the war credits, and Guesde, the lifelong opponent of 

1 The Congress of Copenhagen was the last international congress held by 
the socialists. 

2 See p. 708. 3 See p. 272. 

4 The only Socialist in the Reichstag who from the first opposed the German 
Government's war policy was Karl Liebknecht, the son of Wilhelm Liebknecht, 
for which he was expelled from his party. As the war progressed a group of 
about twenty socialist members of the Reichstag seceded from their party 
and organized a minority socialist group to oppose the war. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 597 

compromise with the "bourgeois State," himself went into 
the Cabinet. The English Labor Party, with the exception 
of the "I.L.P." faction, voted for the war. And so the 
great labor international, which for two generations had 
preached the solidarity of the working classes of all coun- 
tries, went down to destruction in the general conflagration. 

Anarchism 

Almost from its beginning socialism encountered the 
hostility of a group of revolutionists calling themselves 
anarchists. Repudiation of authority in what- Principles of 
ever form, state, church, or family, is the es- anarch y 
sence of anarchy; and to substitute the principle of free- 
dom for that of authority in all relations of life is its chief 
object. "The liberty of man," declares Bakunin, "consists 
solely in this, that he obey the laws of nature because 
he himself has recognized them as such and not because 
they have been imposed upon him externally by a foreign 
will, human or divine, collective or individual." Any in- 
terference with an individual is resented as an "invasion" 
of his personality. All of life's activities are to be carried 
on by free associations that combine and dissolve at will. 
Cooperative productive associations, in which the product 
is shared among the laborers, are to supersede the present 
capitalist system; mutual protective associations, the State; 
and free love, marriage. The State, as the embodiment 
of the highest authority, is, according to anarchists, the 
arch-enemy of freedom; it must therefore be destroyed, 
the democratic ones no less than the autocratic, because 
"all government of man by man, under whatever name it 
may disguise itself, is tyranny." Inasmuch as anarchy is the 
extreme of individualism, and socialism is the extreme of 
collectivism, these two movements have been constantly at 
war with each other. 

The father of modern anarchy was the Frenchman, Pierre 
Joseph Proudhon (1809-65), a self-educated p dh 
man who developed remarkable gifts as a con- 
troversial writer. Proudhon wrote many pamphlets. One, 



593 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Philosophy of Poverty, so roused the ire of Marx that 
he attacked him in a pamphlet, The Poverty of Philosophy. 
In 1840 appeared Proudhon's best known work, What is 
Property? To this question his answer was, "Property is 
theft"; for it reaps without sowing and consumes without 
producing, thereby enabling its possessor to rob other 
men of the fruits of their toil. The term "anarchy" was 
invented by Proudhon, who used it to designate a system of 
society in which the State would be non-existent, and all 
activities, political, economic, and social, would be carried 
on by free associations. 

Proudhon was a philosopher and humanitarian and op- 
posed to violence, for he believed strongly that social 
changes could be brought about through the 
power of ideas. A wholly different school of 
anarchists appeared, who advocated the "propaganda of 
deed," or the establishment of anarchy through acts of 
violence. The assassination of rulers was the favorite 
method of this group of anarchists in their war against the 
State; and several well-known rulers, King Humbert of 
Italy, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, President Carnot of 
France, and President McKinley of the United States, met 
death at their hands. The father of anarchist terrorism was 
Michael Bakunin (1814-76), who was described as "the 
apostle of universal destruction." Bakunin came of an 
aristocratic Russian family, but he was attracted to the 
revolutionary movement in Russia and was recognized as 
a leader among the terrorists. 1 He was possessed of the 
idea that the State was now an anachronism and that the 
simplest way to destroy it was to destroy its chiefs. He 
became a wandering conspirator, hatching plots and fer- 
menting disorder in many lands. A large part of his life 
was spent in prison and in exile. 

Anarchism was not a labor propaganda and it did not at 
any time attract considerable numbers of workingmen; it 
was primarily a philosophy of life appealing to individuals of 
all classes ; hence it has had slight influence as a movement. 

1 See p. 518. 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 599 

Syndicalism 

The most trenchant criticism of socialism came from an 
unexpected quarter, the radical workingmen. What had 
drawn millions of workers to the standard of Growth of 
socialism was that it offered them a definite ^^ ratlon 
plan of emancipation and clearly indicated ways Socialists 
of realizing it. The socialist argument ran as follows: 
Let the workingmen keep on voting for socialist candi- 
dates; and, as the laboring masses constitute the ma- 
jority of the nation, in time the socialist representatives 
will control parliaments and enact law r s expropriating the 
capitalists. Society will thus pass from capitalism to so- 
cialism. The Socialist vote did grow apace; and the Social- 
ist parties became so strong that their assistance was 
sought by the other parties and their leaders were even 
made Ministers of State. Face to face with practical prob- 
lems, they tended to become moderate in their views and 
methods; their old revolutionary fervor abated, and the 
great day of emancipation was put off or forgotten. The 
success of the Socialists attracted to their ranks aspiring 
young men of the middle class to whom socialism offered 
a political career, so that almost the entire leadership of 
the Socialist parties was in the hands of men whose families 
and traditions were bourgeois. 

This led to uneasiness among the workingmen, who 
charged the Socialist parties with being more eager to win 
elections than to win emancipation for the pro- ~ . . . , 

. . ^ Criticism of 

letanat. Socialist leaders were denounced as Socialist 
parliamentary politicians who preferred their parties 
own and their party's welfare to that of the working class. 
There was also a growing conviction that the working class 
could never hope to control the political machinery, because 
they were actually outnumbe'red by the propertied ele- 
ments, the middle classes and the peasant proprietors. Was 
then the work of Marx all vain? 

A new movement, known as "syndicalism," 1 appeared 

1 From the French word, syndicat, a trade union. 



600 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

in France and spread rapidly among the working classes 
~ v . . , in Europe and in America. Syndicalism sub- 

Cnticism ot r .... 

parliamen- scribes fully to the socialist indictment of present 
society and to socialist philosophy; but its prac- 
tical program and future goal are very different from those 
of socialism. According to the syndicalists the dependence 
on parliamentary action is the great error of socialists. 
Parliaments, they contend, can never be the means of 
emancipating the working class, for they are essentially 
bourgeois institutions created by them in their struggle 
against the landed aristocracy represented by absolute mon- 
archy. Hence the political activity of the working class is 
a waste of time and energy ; it moreover dulls their revolu- 
tionary ardor, because the class struggle is frittered away in 
fruitless party strife. The few reforms passed by parliaments 
in the interest of labor are nullified in effect by hostile or 
corrupt officials and judges. Real reforms can be extracted 
in one way only, directly by the workingmen from the 
capitalists, not indirectly through acts of parliament. 
"Direct action" is, therefore, the only logical policy of the 
proletariat, and they should eschew politics and give their 
whole time and energy to the struggle in the economic field, 
the real battleground of capital and labor. 

The only pure working-class institution, created by them 
and for them alone, is the trade union, and the only true 
Industrial working-class weapon is the strike ; on these alone 
unionism m ust the workingmen depend for their "inte- 
gral emancipation," declare the syndicalists. Hitherto the 
trade union has been weak and inefficient, because its poten- 
tialities were not realized. Once its scope is broadened by 
larger organization and its significance deepened by a revo- 
lutionary philosophy, this much despised working-class in- 
stitution will become a most powerful organ in the hands 
of the proletariat. The unions are, therefore, to be reorgan- 
ized on an industrial basis; small craft unions within an 
industry are to amalgamate into one big industrial union, 
comprising both skilled and unskilled workers. For example, 
the carpenters, iron-workers, steam-fitters, painters, and 



REVOLUTIONARY LABOR MOVEMENTS 60 1 

others employed in the building trades should form one 
union having a common policy and a common direction. 
A strike is to be general, that is, of all the workers in the 
industry. Should any one group of workers have a griev- 
ance, the entire trade is to support it in a general strike. 
For example, should the carpenters have a grievance, a strike 
should take place not of the carpenters only, but of all those 
employed in the building trades. An industrial union will 
emphasize class solidarity more than does the craft union, 
which is merely a labor corporation; and a general strike 
will give the workingman a vivid sense of the class war, 
which is all important in syndicalist methods. Laborers 
should make no contracts or agreements with their employ- 
ers, but at every opportunity they should strike; for the 
war between capital and labor is unceasing and ruthless. 
Strikes, whether they achieve their immediate end or not, 
are never lost ; for they keep alive the revolutionary spirit 
of the working class and so prepare it for the day when 
all labor will rise to take possession of the means of pro- 
duction. War against capitalism is to go on even when the 
laborers are at work by means of sabotage, 1 by which is 
meant the impeding of the process of production in all pos- 
sible ways: by breaking machinery, by spoiling materials, 
by deliberately making errors, and by working in a dila- 
tory fashion. "Poor work for poor pay," is the syndicalist 
alternative to a strike. 

If the methods of the syndicalists are concrete, their aims 
are vague. They preach what is called the "social myth" 
of a universal strike of all labor, "a revolution The"so- 
with folded arms," when the capitalists will be cial m y th " 
rendered powerless and the laborers will take over the fac- 
tories, mines, and railways, and work them on a cooperative 
basis. The industrial union, now "a group of resistance," 
will in the future be "a group of production and distri- 
bution." It will form the "cell" of future society, and a 

1 The term comes from the French word sabot, a wooden shoe commonly 
worn by French workingmen. It is related that once when a strike was declared 
in a French factory, the laborers threw their sabots into the machinery, thereby 
ruining it. 



602 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

general federation of industrial unions will supersede the 
State. In theory, syndicalists are as bitterly hostile to the 
State as are anarchists; but their violence does not take 
the form of assassinating kings and presidents. They de- 
clare that they prefer to wage war "directly" on the cap- 
italists themselves, rather than on their agents in the Gov- 
ernment ; their violence is therefore entirely in the economic 
field. Violent methods cannot be dissociated from this new 
gospel. The syndicalists believe that, just because the 
working class is in a minority, their emancipation can be 
brought about through violent revolution only. The su- 
preme need is for effective and daring leadership by a group 
of revolutionary workingmen, the conscious "minority of a 
minority. " Under such leadership the mass of laborers, the 
"human zeros," will succeed in gaining their emancipation. 
Syndicalism had its origin in France among obscure work- 
ingmen. 1 Its ideas found coherent expression for the first 
time in Reflexions sur la Violence (1909), by 
Georges Sorel, a philosophical writer living in 
Paris. Sorel declared that Marx had a thorough under- 
standing of capital, but that he failed to grasp the signifi- 
cance of the labor movement ; for that reason socialists have 
generally been contemptuous of, if not hostile to, trade 
unions. The working class is the only class that has not yet 
fulfilled its historic mission; it must, therefore, be aroused 
by a sublime ideal and must strive to attain it regardless of 
criticism by democrats and socialists. The former once had 
a great mission, but they have degenerated into office-seekers 
and charlatans; and the latter, being under the influence 
of bourgeois ideals and methods, are not and can never be 
the true leaders of the working class. 

. t 1 See p. 268. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE WOMAN'S MOVEMENT 
Position of Woman in Society 

The nineteenth century witnessed the rise of a move- 
ment among women that was universally regarded as strange 
and fantastic. This movement, known as "feminism," 
aroused not so much hostility as ridicule; and it was a 
long time before its claims received serious attention. Al- 
though distinctly revolutionary, feminism was not feared 
for the reason that women could not, like the workingmen, 
threaten the existing order by an armed uprising. Neverthe- 
less, in spite of general hostility, contempt, and ridicule, 
feminism has in recent years made surprising advances both 
as a philosophy and as a program of action ; and it is, there- 
fore, necessary to describe its ideas and history. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the position 
of womankind was not very different from what it had been 
for centuries. Women, being universally re- i n f er ; or 
garded as the inferior sex, "the weaker vessels," position of 

... . , . women 

were not given equal rights with men in govern- 
ment or equal opportunities with them in society. Their 
only function was the bearing and rearing of children, and 
their only occupation, housekeeping. Women led private 
lives, secluded and sheltered in their homes and busied 
with their household duties. They played no part in the 
public life of the world, in government, industry, educa- 
tion, or religion, spheres of interests preempted by men in a 
"man's world." Should a woman venture to express her 
opinion on general affairs, it was received with contempt 
as foolish and childish; her sphere was the home. "Women 
are only children of a larger growth," said Lord Chester- 
field, the first gentleman of his age; "a man of sense only 
trifles with them, plays with them, humors and flatters them 
as he does with a sprightly, forward child." In the State 



604 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

women were non-existent even in the days of property suf- 
frage, for they were excluded from voting whether they 
possessed property or not. In the Church they were wel- 
comed as communicants but excluded from the ministry; 
neither Catholics nor most Protestants permitted them to 
be ordained. 1 In commerce and industry women had no 
share, either as capitalists or as workers: their economic 
activity was entirely in the home. 

The most important fact in a woman's life was her rela- 
tion to man. Not being engaged in any gainful occupation, 
Woman's sne was dependent for her support on her hus- 
dependence band, father, or brother. This economic depend- 
ence was reflected in legal dependence. Before 
the civil law woman was a minor: she could make no con- 
tracts; could not sue or be sued; her husband or father was 
liable for civil offenses she committed. In criminal mat- 
ters only was she responsible for her acts. Marriage meant 
woman's complete surrender of her person and property to 
her husband, whom she promised "to love and to obey." 
According to the law, husband and wife were "one," but 
as the husband bore the responsibilities of both, he had the 
rights of both. Since a wife could legally hold no property, 
her possessions passed to her husband on marriage. The 
children born to them were legally his, the mother having 
few rights over them. It was generally believed that 
woman was by divine design made for man; hence it was 
her highest duty to please him in every way possible. 

Woman's mind being thought inferior, to educate her was 
considered wasteful. An intellectual woman was regarded 
Her lack- of as a monstrosity and she was socially ostra- 
education cized. Very few women were given opportunities 
for higher education. Those who were, received one of infe- 
rior quality in the boarding-schools and female seminaries, 
where much of the time was devoted to teaching them 
"lady-like accomplishments," such as music, dancing, dress, 
and etiquette. Woman's sole aim was to be attractive in 
order to win a husband; sound learning, it was thought, 

1 Only a few of the Protestant sects allowed women in their ministry. 



THE WOMAN'S MOVEMENT 605 

would spoil a girl's "charm" and consequently ruin her 
prospects for marriage. 

This inferior position of woman in society was veiled by 
her intimate association with man. Woman was regarded 
as the chosen of God and nature for the welfare Chivalry of 
of the race ; she was, therefore, entitled to special man 
protection in society. Her physical constitution was more 
delicate, her nature more refined, and her person more 
comely than man's; it consequently behooved him to treat 
her with consideration in all personal relations : to be kind 
and gentle in speech and in action, and to be ever ready to 
sacrifice his comfort and even his life for the sake of the 
"fair sex." This chivalrous attitude cast a halo of romance 
about women, through whose spiritual influence man was 
inspired to brave deeds, noble sentiments, and virtuous 
acts. As they were considered incapable of producing great 
works of art, literature, or science, their part was to be an 
"inspiration" to men of genius. 

Origin of Feminism 

The French Revolution, which set all social theories and 
institutions rocking on their foundations, caused bold 
inquiries to be made into the status of woman as The French 
well as into that of man. When the National Revolution 
Assembly was in session a group of women drew up a Decla- 
ration of the Rights of Women, demanding equal rights of 
women with men, which they sent to that body for adoption. 
Scant attention was paid to it. The woman's liberal move- 
ment was suppressed by Napoleon, whose Code, very lib- 
eral and enlightened in many respects, was reactionary in 
regard to woman, for it put the wife completely under the 
control of her husband. 

It was England rather than France that saw the rise and 
growth of the feminist movement. Its pioneer was Mary 
Wollstonecraft (1759-97), whose book, Vindica- Mary Woll- 
tion of the Rights of Women, published in 1792, stonecraft 
was an eloquent appeal for the full and complete equality 
of women with men in every sphere of life, in order to eman- 



606 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cipate them from "sex bondage." Woman, Mary Woll- 
stonecraft declared, was an individual, with her own powers 
to develop, for which she needed the fullest opportunity. 
It was to her detriment that too much emphasis had been 
put on her sex. Her welfare demanded that she be regarded 
as a human being as well as a wife and mother, because "the 
desire of always being women is the very consciousness that 
degrades the sex." Woman's intellectual inferiority was 
not due to her nature, but to her inferior education; she 
would quickly rise in mental capacity were she given full 
educational opportunities. Women must be enfranchised, 
as the vote is as much her natural right as man's; to keep 
unenfranchised half the human race is to make a mockery of 
democracy. Above all, women must become economically 
independent of man; they should, therefore, be permitted 
to engage in industry and in the professions; too long have 
women lived by their "charm." Mary Wollstonecraft's 
bold pronouncements shocked her contemporaries. She 
was denounced as a "hyena in petticoats," and good 
women were warned not to fall under her influence. 

Far more influential than radical theories in changing 
the status of woman was the Industrial Revolution. The 
~, T , factory drew women from the home as it did 

1 he Indus- J 

trial Revolu- men from the shop. Home industries, like spin- 
ning, sewing, baking, and brewing, largely con- 
ducted by women, rapidly became obsolete. Women were 
welcomed into the factory because they accepted lower 
wages than men and were less likely to prove recalci- 
trant. The factory, for all its evils, low wages, long hours, 
and unsanitary conditions, yet proved of immeasurable 
importance in the emancipation of women ; for the first time 
an opportunity was given to them to become wage-earners 
and thereby gain a degree of economic independence. Soon 
many began to rise in the economic field, to enter the semi- 
skilled occupations and the professions. Driven from the 
confining influences of the home into the great world and 
forced to earn their livelihood like men, women began seri- 
ously to consider the problem of their political and social 



THE WOMAN'S MOVEMENT 607 

status. In large measure it may be said that the rise of 
modern industry was responsible for the growth of feminism. 

Woman Suffrage 

England, as the home of the Industrial Revolution and of 
political liberalism, naturally became the center of the 
woman's movement. Almost from the start Woman suf- 
feminism's first demand was for woman suffrage. frage 
It was realized that in a country like England, where politi- 
cal activity plays a great part in the life of the people, the 
enfranchisement of women would be universally regarded 
as a step of prime importance in their emancipation. Woman 
suffrage found a powerful champion in John Stuart Mill, 
whose book, Subjection of Women (1869), remains to this 
day the classic exposition of the case for woman suffrage. 
During the debates on the Reform Bill of 1867, Mill intro- 
duced an amendment for the enfranchisement of women, 
but it was defeated by a vote of 196 to 73. Many woman 
suffrage societies were organized for the purpose of conduct- 
ing a vigorous agitation to convert England to the new re- 
form. Equal franchise bills were introduced in Parliament 
which at first brought forth flippant remarks, but which 
later led to serious debates on the question. The women 
claimed the vote both as a moral right and as a practical 
desirability. They declared that so long as they remained 
unenfranchised they were aliens in their own country, sub- 
ject to its laws but having no share in making them. At 
best they were citizens who bore the obligations, but re- 
ceived few of the privileges, of citizenship ; and they raised 
the time-honored cry, "No taxation without representa- 
tion ! " They also urged that the enfranchisement of women 
would lead to the improvement of their condition and to that 
of society in general, for women would be certain to wield 
political power in favor of social and moral reforms. The 
opponents of woman suffrage contended that the entrance 
of women into politics would lead to the neglect of their 
home duties with dire consequences for family life, and that it 
would also promote antagonism between the sexes. Women 



608 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

would become coarsened in the rough-and-tumble game of 
politics, which is more to the taste of men than of women. 
The ballot need not be exercised by women in order to 
advance their interests: laws favorable to women were 
passed without it. In answer to the claim of the suffragists 
that the ballot was their right, the anti-suffragists replied 
that government rests on force, and since women are not 
required to fight for their country they should have no 
voice in directing its policies. 

The agitation for woman suffrage proceeded along con- 
stitutional lines for about a generation. Its progress was 
The "suf- slow, and the more ardent spirits among the 
fragettes" suffragists became impatient. In 1903 there was 
organized the Women's Social and Political Union by Mrs. 
Emmeline Pankhurst and her two daughters, Christabel 
and Sylvia. This body resolved to bring the question of 
woman suffrage prominently before the English people by 
adopting "militant" methods. The "suffragettes," as the 
militant suffragists were called, began in a mild way by 
"heckling" prominent speakers; before long they took to 
breaking up political meetings. No public man was safe 
from their questions or their missiles. They finally resolved 
on a policy of committing outrages. Buildings were set 
on fire, windows broken, letter-boxes ruined, pictures and 
statues in museums destroyed, telegraph wires cut, and the 
sessions of Parliament disturbed by riotous demonstrations 
in the galleries. For a decade all England was in a turmoil. 
No one knew what outrage the daring "suffragettes" would 
commit next, so that extra guards had to be stationed in 
many public places. Combats between the police and the 
"suffragettes" were matters of daily occurrence. When 
imprisoned, they would go on a "hunger strike," that is, 
refuse to eat and drink ; and to prevent them from starving 
to death the prison officials adopted methods of "forcible 
feeding." 

Militancy was based on the idea that political rights are 
never granted save in response to an irresistible demand; 
and as the women could not threaten revolution, as did the 



THE WOMAN'S MOVEMENT 609 

middle classes in 1832 and the working classes in 1867, they 
resolved to coerce the Government through an- w om en and 
noyances and outrages. The outbreak of mili- the World 
tancy did serve to bring the question of woman 
suffrage prominently before the English public, though many 
were repelled from the movement because of the methods 
of the "wild women." Bills to enfranchise women were 
frequently introduced in Parliament and gained consider- 
able support from both Liberals and Conservatives. When 
the World War broke out, English women, led by the 
suffragists, rallied to the support of the Government, and 
they rendered patriotic service by working in the munition 
factories, in the fields, and in the hospitals. This caused 
many Englishmen to view the suffrage movement more 
favorably, and an equal franchise bill, supported by both 
parties, was passed by Parliament in 191 8. 1 

Progress of Woman 

English women have made notable progress in the eman- 
cipation of their sex. The institutions of higher learning, 
the colleges, universities, and professional schools, p rogress f 
have gradually opened their doors to them, so women in 
that to-day their educational opportunities are 
equal to those of men. Large numbers of women have en- 
tered the professions 2 and some have made notable careers. 
A very important change in their legal status came with 
the passage of the Married Women's Property Act in 1882 
which, for the first time, established the married^ woman as 
a distinct legal personality by giving her the right to own 
property in her own name. Another important law, passed 
in 1886, gave the mother equal right with the father in the 
control of their children. 

The woman's movement is farthest advanced in the 
Scandinavian countries. Norway was the first _ 

. r 11 i- Scandinavia 

nation to admit women to full parliamentary 

suffrage. Denmark followed shortly after. Sweden, how- 

1 See p. 751. 

2 Women are, however, not yet permitted to practice law in England. 



610 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ever, still withholds the ballot from women. 1 In all three 
countries the legal and social status of woman is almost the 
same as that of man. Since 1906 woman suffrage has existed 
in Finland, and women have been elected as members of 
Parliament. 

In France the woman's movement has not progressed as 
rapidly as in England. There is little suffrage agitation 
among French women, partly because they are 
more sensitive to criticism and ridicule than 
are their English sisters. All educational and professional 
opportunities, however, have been opened to them, of which 
many have taken full advantage. The distinguished scien- 
tist, Mme. Curie, was, in 1907, appointed to the chair of 
physics at the Sorbonne. The Napoleonic Code has been 
modified so as to give a married woman the right to her 
own earnings. 

In Germany the cause of woman has had to contend 
against the unfavorable atmosphere of autocratic rule and 
military ideals. The only element to sympa- 
thize with the movement has been the least 
influential, the socialists. The woman-suffrage movement 
in Germany is very weak; but strong women's organizations 
have come to the front that agitate for the rights of women 
in the social and economic spheres. Until recently women's 
educational opportunities in Germany were very limited, but 
now they are generally permitted to enter even the highest 
institutions of learning. 

Considering the many handicaps women have had to face 
in their struggle for equality, the progress of their cause has 
been amazing. Woman's entrance into the world outside the 
home has had the effect of stimulating her to do many 
things of which she was once generally thought incapable. 
There is to-day hardly a field of endeavor in which women 
are not to be found, so that the "man's world" is becom- 
ing a "man's and woman's world," wherein both are free 
to give their best to the progress of the race. 

1 See p. 476. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

SCIENCE l 

The nineteenth century may truly be called the Age of 
Science. In no other period of human history did mankind 
make such extraordinary advances in the knowl- influence of 
edge of the world, its origin, its inhabitants, and science 
the forces that control it. The scientist, laboriously experi- 
menting in laboratories and announcing his results in tech- 
nical language understood by few, has not impressed himself 
on mankind as vividly as the statesman and the soldier. 
Yet his work has exercised perhaps a deeper influence in 
moulding our present civilization than eloquent speeches 
or brilliant strategy, for he has originated ideas and mech- 
anisms that have revolutionized the life and thought of 
mankind. 

Science has been a truly international force. It knows 
no frontiers, whether of nationality, race, religion, or region, 
for the laboratory has been a common meeting-place of all 
scientists whatever their origin. Every civilized nation has 
produced men who have contributed to the development 
of science. Through their conventions and journals, scien- 
tists in all countries are in constant communication with 
one another in order better to advance their work; and 
a discovery once made immediately becomes a common 
human possession. 

Geology 
Until the nineteenth century it was generally believed 
that the earth was five or six thousand years Origin of 
old and that it was created by God inside of a the earth's 
week ; its inhabitants, both men and beasts, were 
created in pairs and put into the world to multiply their 

1 This chapter does not pretend to cover the subject: it is merely a bare out- 
line of the most important facts in the history of science during the nineteenth 
century. 



612 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

kind. The scientists and philosophers of the eighteenth 
century challenged the idea of creation, asserting that the 
earth was millions of years old, and that its surface was 
due to convulsions of nature which brought into existence 
mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, streams, and waterfalls. 

A new theory as to the origin of the earth's surface was 
promulgated by the Englishman, Sir Charles Lyell, in his 
Lyell's book, The Principles of Geology, published in 

theory 1830. Lyell contended that the surface of the 

earth came into existence not as a result of catastrophe, 
but as a result of slow and constant changes, ages and ages 
in duration, and that the process is still going on. Valleys 
are being excavated by floods, rain, and snow; rocks are 
being decomposed by the action of water; flowing rivers 
are wearing away their shores by cutting deeper and deeper 
into the surface; vegetation is becoming coal; new strata 
are being constantly formed. Lyell's theory soon super- 
seded all others in explanation of the earth's surface. 

Evolution 

The scientific theory that created the greatest sensation 
is known as "evolution," or the theory that all animal and 
The theory plant life is the result of a gradual development 
of evolution through different forms. The idea of evolution 
had been suggested by the ancients; and the eighteenth- 
century scientists, Buffon and Lamarck, had foretold its 
development. But it was the Englishman, Charles Darwin 
(1809-82), who first presented the theory clearly and fully in 
his famous book, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural 
Selection (1859). Darwin's theory of evolution is briefly 
this. The individuals of a species vary: some are stronger, 
others fleeter of foot, others more cunning, others so colored 
as to escape detection, others have sharper claws and teeth, 
and others have heavier furs. Countless numbers of progeny 
are born, for animals and plants are extremely prolific, and 
the earth would be quickly filled; but such is not the case. 
Evidently not all that are born live out their span of life, 
because relatively few survive. The elimination of count- 



SCIENCE 613 

less millions is directly accomplished by nature through ex- 
posure to cold and heat, through lack of food and drink, and 
through accidents of all kinds. Millions more are destroyed 
in the struggle that ceaselessly goes on among animals and 
plants. Some, in order to live, destroy others weaker than 
themselves physically and mentally. Animals of one species 
prey on those of another; and the struggle is sharp within 
the species itself. The individuals that have the best chance 
for survival are those variants that have the characteristics 
above mentioned, which enable them to win out in the 
"struggle for existence." The others succumb. In other 
words, by means of "natural selection" the unfit are 
eliminated by nature, which selects those that are the 
strongest, the most cunning, and the most adaptable. The 
result of this process is the "survival of the fittest," who 
reproduce their kind in their turn. In this way new species 
are in time developed. Man himself has come into existence 
as part of the greater process of the evolution of life. His 
"place in nature" is that of a highly developed animal 
who sprang from the lower animals through variation, 
selection, and heredity. He is closely related to the an- 
thropoid ape, whose physical structure strikingly resem- 
bles his own, because both are probably descended from 
a common ancestor. 

Darwinism aroused a storm of discussion which lasted a 
generation. It was enthusiastically espoused by many dis- 
tinguished scientists and philosophers: in Eng- Controversy 
land, by Alfred Russel Wallace, whc^ had de- over-Dar- 
veloped the theory of evolution independently 
of Darwin; by Thomas Henry Huxley, who became Dar- 
win's leading expounder and defender; and by Herbert Spen- 
cer, the great philosopher and sociologist; in Germany, by 
the well-known biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel; 
and in America, by the historian John Fiske. Opposed to 
evolution were the older scientists and especially the theo- 
logians. The latter asserted that the theory was a direct at- 
tack on the Biblical idea of the creation of man by God, 
and they denounced the evolutionists as enemies of religion. 



6i'4 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE, 

Chemistry 

Lavoisier's researches at the end of the eighteenth cen- 
tury laid the basis of modern chemistry. 1 The science made 
The atomic a rapid stride during the early part of the nine- 
theory teenth century after the announcement of the 
atomic theory by the Englishman, John Dalton. According 
to this theory, each element is composed of atoms, or par- 
ticles of matter so small that they cannot be subdivided; 
these particles, when combined, form substances with 
properties different from those of the constituent elements. 
By determining the atomic weights of the various elements 
Dalton fixed the proportion in which they combine; for 
example, one pound of hydrogen will combine with eight 
pounds of oxygen to form nine pounds of water. Dalton's 
atomic theory was corroborated by the Frenchman, Joseph 
Louis Gay-Lussac who, in 1809, discovered that gases, when 
put under the same conditions as to temperature and pres- 
sure, combine in definite proportion as to volume; for ex- 
ample, two volumes of hydrogen will combine with one 
volume of oxygen to form two volumes of water vapor. 
Important contributions to the atomic theory were made by 
the Swede, Johann Jakob Berzelius, and by the Italian, 
Amadeo Avogadro. 

In Germany, chemical science made great strides as a 
result of the researches of Friedrich Wohler and Justus von 
Organic Liebig. It had been generally supposed that 

chemistry organic substances, such as plants and animals, 
were not subject to the same chemical laws as inanimate 
matter. In 1828 Wohler prepared in the laboratory an 
organic product, urea, thus laying the foundation of syn- 
thetic organic chemistry. To-day chemists produce by 
laboratory methods many of the substances that are ordi- 
narily found in animal and plant life. They also improve 
and change materials through chemical treatment. Lie- 
big's researches in the chemistry of animal and vegetable life 
were of the greatest importance in the production of food. 

1 See p. 8. 



SCIENCE 615 

Plants get nourishment from air and soil; air is inexhaustible, 
but the soil is soon impoverished; hence, it is necessary to 
restore to the soil those ingredients essential to the growth 
of plants. Liebig's experiments on artificial fertilizers laid 
the basis of scientific agriculture. 

Within the latter half of the nineteenth century the 
Russian, Dmitri Mendeleef, stated the so-called "periodic 
law," whereby it was shown that when the The periodic 
elements are listed serially in the order of their law 
atomic weights, they show a recurrence of similar proper- 
ties at intervals of eight. 

In 1898 Professor and Madame Curie of Paris astonished 
the world by their discovery of a new element, radium. 
Radium compounds give out enormous quanti- _, ,. 

. . Kadium 

ties of heat and possess other unique properties, 
which has led some chemists to question the very funda- 
mentals of their science. Radium is obtained from a mineral 
called pitchblende, but it takes one ton of the latter to yield 
one seventh of a grain of radium. 

Physics 

At the end of the eighteenth century two Italian phy- 
sicists, Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, laid the founda- 
tion of the science of electricity by discovering 
the electric battery. Early in the nineteenth 
century ^he Englishman, Sir Humphry Davy, produced a 
bright light from the points of carbon by means of an elec- 
tric battery, which is the beginning of modern electric 
lighting through the use of arc lamps. Davy made a great 
advance in electro-chemistry by using an electric battery 
to decompose substances. By decomposing potash he dis- 
covered a new metal, potassium. The relations between 
electricity and magnetism were discovered by a Dane, 
Jean Christian Oersted, who moved a magnetic needle from 
its position by means of a current. Two French scientists, 
Andre Marie Ampere and Dominique Francois Arago, 
proved that electricity could produce magnetism under cer- 
tain circumstances. These discoveries prepared the way 



616 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

for the invention of the electric telegraph. The English 
physicist, Michael Faraday, discovered the principle of the 
dynamo, a contrivance which generates electrical energy; 
as applied to the electric motor it is now used to run cars, 
elevators, and other means of locomotion. 

Until the nineteenth century it was believed that heat was 
an imponderable fluid the presence of which produced 
warmth, the absence, cold. At the end of the 
eighteenth century an American, Benjamin 
Thompson, later known as Count Rumford, discovered 
that heat may be generated by friction. This principle was 
illustrated by Sir Humphry Davy, who melted two pieces 
of ice by rubbing them together. During the middle of the 
nineteenth century the famous theory of the conservation 
of energy was formulated, which is as important in physics 
as the theory of evolution is in biology and as the atomic 
theory is in chemistry. This discovery was the outcome of 
the work of the German, Julius Robert Mayer, and the 
Englishman, James Prescott Joule. These scientists proved 
that energy cannot be annihilated; it can be made merely 
to change its form. The energy of motion is translated into 
the energy of heat, and a given quantity of heat equals a 
like quantity of mechanical energy. Heat is itself a form 
of energy, and is due to the vibratory motion of molecules, 
of which matter is said to be composed. The theory of the 
conservation of energy has been greatly developed in our 
day by the researches of the English physicist, Lord Kelvin. 
During the latter part of the nineteenth century the Ger- 
man, Herman Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, laid the 
Light and basis of the science of acoustics by his experi- 
sound ments in the nature of sound. Heinrich Rudolf 

Hertz, basing his researches on the work of the English 
physicist, Clerk-Maxwell, advanced the theory that ordi- 
nary light consists of electro-magnetic vibrations in the 
ether, a substance permeating all space and matter. These 
vibrations, termed "Hertzian waves," were the foundation 
for the invention of wireless telegraphy. 



SCIENCE 617 

Medicine and Surgery 

t The advance made in the sciences of biology, physics, 
bacteriology, and chemistry revolutionized the study and 
practice of medicine, and led to discoveries that The germ 
saved countless persons from death and pain. theor y 
A new theory, the famous germ theory, was formulated in 
explanation of the origin of many diseases. According to 
this theory infection takes place when microscopic vege- 
table and animal organisms called bacteria, or germs, pres- 
ent in food and drink, enter the body through its open- 
ings. If the body is. healthy it resists the onslaught of the 
germs ; if it is not, they find lodgment in the blood and tissues, 
where they multiply very rapidly and generate poisons 
called toxins, causing illness and death. The Russian, Elias 
Metschnikoff, discovered that in some diseases the white 
blood cells defend the body by devouring the bacteria and 
that illness may be averted by increasing the number of 
these cells in the blood. In the course of other diseases, the 
toxins generated by the bacteria cause the production of 
chemical substances in the body called anti-toxins, or anti- 
dotes, which curiously enough have the power of neutraliz- 
ing, and thus destroying, the power of the toxins. To cure 
a patient, a new treatment called serum-therapy was de- 
veloped, whereby anti-toxins produced in the bodies of 
persons or animals sick with a similar disease are injected 
into the patient to strengthen his resistance to the toxins. 
The pioneer in serum-therapy was the Frenchman, Louis 
Pasteur, whose researches in this field are of inestimable 
importance. He found cures for hydrophobia and anthrax; 
and his studies of the diseases of the silkworm and the vine 
resulted in the adoption of methods which helped to save 
the silk and wine industries of his country. 1 Two German 
physicians, Emil von Behring and Robert Koch, made 
great contributions to medicine. In 1882 Koch discovered 
the germ of tuberculosis; and in 1892 Behring discovered 
an anti-toxin serum for diphtheria. 

1 See p. 245. 



6ig MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The discovery of the germ theory inaugurated the prac- 
tice of preventive medicine, or hygienic methods of living. 
Preventive Water and milk are boiled to kill the germs; 
medicine f ooc j - ls k e pj- c l ean anc { fresh in order to prevent 

bacteria from infecting it ; spitting is forbidden because the 
germs present in the dried sputum of a tubercular person 
might later infect others through being inhaled ; individual 
cups and towels are provided to prevent contagion. The 
great plagues, yellow fever, cholera, and the bubonic plague 
that once scourged the earth, have almost been eliminated 
in civilized countries by sanitary precautions. Well regu- 
lated diet, careful nursing, bathing, and massage have fre- 
quently taken the place of drugs in the cure of the sick. 
Medical education has advanced rapidly upon the establish- 
ment of splendid medical schools, clinics, hospitals, and re- 
search laboratories. Wonderful mechanisms have been in- 
vented to detect the presence of disease, which have greatly 
improved diagnosis. 

Surgery was revolutionized by the discovery of anaes- 
thesia. It was first used in 1846 by an American, Dr. John 
, . C. Warren, who performed an operation without 

Ansesthesia . . . L . . 

causing pain to the patient. Previously surgical 
operations had been attended with great horror; and it 
required almost superhuman fortitude on the part of the 
patient to bear the pain. Operations were, therefore, rare 
and frequently resulted in death. To-day the patient inhales 
an anaesthetic, ether or chloroform, and immediately sinks 
into unconsciousness; the surgeon then operates undis- 
turbed. In this way limbs are amputated, abdomens opened, 
growths inside the body cut out, and even the delicate 
brain operated on. 

Even with the use of anaesthetics great suffering was 
endured by the patient after the operation was over; and 
A . . frequently death resulted because of blood poi- 

Antisepsis ... 

soning. Another great step in surgical progress 
was made through the introduction, in 1876, of antisepsis 
by the Englishman, Lord Lister. This method lays great 
emphasis on cleanliness at the operation ; the surgeon care- 



SCIENCE 619 

fully washes himself and sterilizes his instruments to pre- 
vent bacterial infection, and, after the operation, the wound 
is disinfected and carefully dressed. Through the use of 
anaesthetics, antisepsis, and the new surgical instruments, 
even the most serious operations are fairly safe. The hor- 
rors of the battle-field are mitigated by skillful surgeons, who 
have saved thousands of wounded soldiers from death. 

In 1895 came the famous discovery of the X-ray by the 
German, Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen. This is a method of 
photographing through solids and is especially 
valuable in surgery. An X-ray photograph 
makes the body transparent, revealing fractures, the pres- 
ence of bullets, and the condition of the organs, so that the 
surgeon may operate with greater certainty. 

Exploration 

Like the sixteenth, the nineteenth century was an age of 
discovery and exploration. During the early part of the 
nineteenth century the German, Alexander von South Amer- 
Humboldt, explored the regions of the Amazon and Central 
and Orinoco valleys in South America. His book, Asia 
Kosmos (1858), laid the basis of the science of physical 
geography, as it was the first to describe scientifically the 
physical universe and its influences upon the development 
of civilization. How the interior of Africa was discov- 
ered and explored will presently be told. 1 Central Asia 
was an unknown region till recently. A Swedish explorer, 
Sven Hedin, made several expeditions to Tibet, one in 
1 899-1 902 and another in 1906-08, as a result of which the 
geography of that country became known. In 1904 a Brit- 
ish military expedition under Colonel F. E. Younghus- 
band forced its way into the sacred Tibetan city of Lhassa, 
until then closed to the world. 

The only parts of the earth that still remained undis- 
covered at the beginning of the twentieth century Discovery of 
were the Polar regions. The renown that would the Poles 
attend the discoverer of the Poles and the immense dif- 

1 See pp. 675 ff. 



620 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ficulties that stood in the way attracted the most daring 
explorers of modern times. During the nineteenth century 
many attempts were made to reach the Poles, extending 
the world's knowledge of those regions. One of the most 
important was that led in 1881-83 by the American, A. W. 
Greely, who reached 8o° 44' north latitude. Another was 
that led by the Norwegian, Fridjof Nansen, who in 1893- 
95 reached 86° 14' North, or within two hundred and seventy- 
two miles of the North Pole. The honor of discovering the 
North Pole belongs to an American, Robert E. Peary who, 
after many months of hardship, reached the North Pole on 
April 7, 1909. Antarctic exploration was attended with 
similar success. A British expedition, led by Sir Ernest 
Henry Shackleton in 1907-09, reached 88° 23' south lati- 
tude, or within ninety-seven miles of the South Pole. The 
honor of discovering the only place till then unreached 
belongs to a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, who reached 
the South Pole on December 16, 191 1. 1 At last, after many 
centuries of effort, the entire earth's surface has become 
known to mankind. 

1 A British expedition under Captain R. F. Scott started for the South 
Pole about the same time as the Norwegian. Captain Scott reached the Pole 
on January 18, 1912, and found that Amundsen had been there before him. 
On his way back Captain Scott and his party perished through exposure. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 
Introduction 

In 1453 the Ottoman Turks gained a foothold in Eu- 
rope by capturing Constantinople. They soon overran 
the Balkan Peninsula, and for several centuries invasions of 
Christian Europe was threatened by the Mo- the Turks 
hammedan invasions which swept all before them. In 1683 
victorious Turkish armies laid siege to Vienna; but, fortu- 
nately for Western Europe, they were repulsed- by the Polish 
King, John Sobieski, who came to the relief of the city. 
This was their first serious check; and, from that time on, 
the Turkish flood began to recede. 

The Ottoman Empire was at its height at the end of 
the seventeenth century. In Europe it possessed the entire 
Balkan Peninsula, Hungary, Bessarabia, Crimea, Vast extent 
and the lands bordering on the Black Sea; in of the Turk- 
Asia, the entire region that lay between the 
Mediterranean and the frontier of Persia; in Africa, all of 
the northern coast except Morocco. The Mediterranean 
had become almost a Turkish lake. Great difficulties were 
naturally experienced in holding so vast a region under 
one regime, and fissures soon began to appear in the impos- 
ing imperial structure. The various provinces in Africa, 
Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria, became semi-independent under 
local rulers, who, however, acknowledged the suzerainty of 
the Sultan. During the eighteenth century the Hapsburgs 
wrested Hungary from the Turks, and the Russians drove 
them from the northern shore of the Black Sea. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Balkan 
Peninsula and Western Asia were still under the Races in the 
direct rule of the "Sublime Porte," as the Turk- Em P ire 
ish Government is called. Situated at the meeting-place 



622 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 



of three continents, the Ottoman Empire consisted of a 
conglomeration of races professing different faiths, speak- 
ing different languages, and strongly attached to their va- 
rious national ideals and customs. In Asiatic Turkey the 
majority of the inhabitants, Turks, Arabs, and Kurds, was 
Mohammedan in religion; the minority was composed of 




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Armenian and Greek Christians and of Jews. In European 
Turkey the Turks, the ruling race, were a small minority; 
the overwhelming majority were Slavic in race and Christian 
in faith. The Near Eastern Question concerns itself mainly 
with the inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula. This region 
has been the " danger zone of Europe" for centuries. Great 
wars, involving all the nations of Europe, have been fought 
to determine the fate of its inhabitants. It is important, 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 623 

therefore, to describe the peoples of the region and their 
various problems. 

In no other part of Europe are there so many different 
races within so small a compass as in the Balkans. A suc- 
cession of barbaric hordes from Europe and The Serbs 
Asia had invaded the peninsula and had become and Bul g ars 
permanent settlers, mixing with the native inhabitants 
and, in some cases, adopting their customs and language. 
The most important groups are the Serbs and the Bulga- 
rians. The Serbs are of Slavic origin and speech, and 
dwell in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. 
The Bulgarians, or Bulgars, are also Slavic in speech and 
supposedly in blood as well, although the original Bulgars 
were a Turanian tribe from Asia who conquered the district 
centering in what is now called Bulgaria, but who were in 
time assimilated by the native Slavic inhabitants. 

The people of Rumania are of mixed origin. They proudly 
believe themselves to be the descendants of the Roman 
settlers in the ancient province of Dacia, as their The Ruma- 
language belongs to the Latin family. But the nians 
majority of the Rumanians, or Rumans, as they call them- 
selves, are in all likelihood the descendants of the Slavic 
tribe of Vlachs, or Wallachs, who invaded the region cen- 
turies ago. 

The southern part of the peninsula is occupied by Greece. 
The inhabitants, who call themselves Hellenes, never tire 
of boasting of their descent from the people of 
ancient Hellas; hence they consider themselves 
the leading nation of the Balkans. These "Greeks" are of 
mixed origin. Although speaking a language founded on 
ancient Greek, they are descendants mainly of Slavic 
tribes who invaded the country and intermarried with the 
native Hellenes and their slaves. The inhabitants of the 
islands near Greece are, however, in large part of pure 
Hellenic blood. 

Albania is occupied by a nomadic, warlike people who 
speak a jargon made up of the various languages of the 
peninsula. The Albanians are rugged mountaineers who 



624 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

gain a livelihood as herdsmen, soldiers, and brigands. They 
The Alba- are divided equally into Mohammedans and 
mans Christians. Naturally the Mohammedan half 

of the population is more faithful to the Sultan than the 
Christian half. 

Scattered all over the Balkans are large numbers of 
Armenians and Jews. The former, not having a national 
The Arme- cen ter of their own race to champion their cause, 
nians and have been the worst treated of all the Turkish 
subjects; time and again have these helpless 
Christians suffered massacre at the hands of fanatical 
Mohammedans. The Jews, also without a national center, 
have, on the contrary, been well treated, partly because of 
the affinity of Mohammedanism with Judaism and partly 
because they have been regarded as a counterweight to the 
Christians. The Jews in Turkey are largely of Spanish 
origin, descendants of those who fled to escape the Inqui- 
sition in the sixteenth century. Most of the inhabitants of 
the Balkans are peasants engaged in tilling the soil in a 
primitive manner, or herdsmen whose flocks consist of hogs, 
sheep, and goats. Commerce is almost exclusively in the 
hands of Armenians, Greeks, and Jews, who constitute the 
middle class in the peninsula. 

Religion and politics were closely connected. The va- 
rious races were divided according to their religion, each 
The religious element constituting a millet, or religious group, 
groups which exercised a considerable degree of local 

autonomy in civil and political matters. The heads of the 
religious groups received recognition from the Government 
as the leaders of the community. In the Balkan Peninsula 
the great majority of the inhabitants are members of the 
Greek Church, which, in doctrine, ritual, and organization, 
is almost identical with the Orthodox Church in Russia. 
They acknowledged the authority of the Patriarch of Con- 
stantinople who, though the head of their faith, was gen- 
erally suspected of being hostile to their nationalist aims 
because he was an appointee of the Sultan. 

The Turks were the ruling race. From their ranks came 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 625 

most of the higher officials, the great landowners, and the 
upper classes generally. They regarded the Discrim- 
Christians with contempt as r ayahs, or "herds agatnstthe 
of cattle," whose main function was to obey and Christians 
to pay taxes. In legal trials the word of a Mohammedan 
outweighed that of a Christian, the two faiths not being 
equal before the law. Christians were not admitted into 
the army in any capacity, for their loyalty was suspected ; 
besides, as war was to the Mohammedan generally a cru- 
sade against the infidel, it could, therefore, be undertaken 
by the faithful only. 

The government of Turkey was an absolute monarchy, 
all power being lodged in the Padishah, or Sultan. In ad- 
dition to his temporal power the Sultan claimed ^, , 
1 1 • - 1 1 1 r n 1 • 1. ■ The Sultan 

to be the spiritual leader of all his co-rehgion- 

ists by virtue of being the Khalif, or lord of Islam, as the 

Mohammedan world is called. His two chief assistants were 

the Grand Vizier and the Sheik-ul-Islam, the former the 

political, and the latter the religious, Prime Minister. Over 

each vilayet, or province, was a governor appointed by the 

Sultan. 

Turkish rule in Europe is a long story of despotism, in- 
competence, and corruption unrelieved by any notable con- 
tributions to civilization and, therefore, a strik- R u i e of 
ing contrast tp Mohammedan rule in Spain. All the Turks 
that the Turks desired of their subjects was tribute and obe- 
dience; and they never managed to organize the former 
into a regular system of taxation nor the latter into a stable 
and orderly administration. Spasmodic fleecing was the 
practice, and when the money was not forthcoming, cruel 
punishment was the lot of the miserable rayahs. In case 
the rapacity of the tax-gatherers could not or would not be 
satisfied, rayahs would be buried up to their necks in the 
ground, stripped naked and tied to trees, or roasted over 
slow fires. The corruption of the Turkish Government be- 
came a byword in Europe. Money appropriated for' public 
improvements went into the pockets of officials. Bribery 
was almost universal, for the officials were neither well nor 



626 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

regularly paid ; hence they sought to recompense themselves 
by corrupt methods. In some regions disorder prevailed 
continually; armed bands of brigands terrorized the inhabi- 
tants and put their lives and property in continual jeopardy. 

Until the beginning of the twentieth century the Turks 
scarcely made any serious attempt to adopt European civili- 
Turks zation ; nor did they ever try to assimilate the 

army of oc- various peoples in the Empire to their customs 
cupa ion anc j institutions. They were, in reality, an army 
of occupation encamped on European soil, interested only 
in governing and squeezing their subjects. Had it not 
been for the divisions among the latter, which the Turks 
encouraged on the principle of divide et impera, and for the 
rivalries of the European Powers, the Turks would long 
ago have been driven out of Europe. 

Three elements entered into the Near Eastern Question: 
(i) the relation of the Porte to its Christian subjects; 
Elements in (2) the relation of the various Balkan nationali- 
Eastern 1 " t ^ es to one an °ther; and (3) the rivalry of the 
Question various European Powers, each intent on mak- 
ing its influence supreme in the Ottoman Empire. Many 
close students of the Near Eastern Question believed that 
there could be no solution of these vexing problems unless 
Turkey were driven out,of Europe, because she had proved 
herself neither willing nor capable of establishing institutions 
and methods which conformed to the general European 
standard. Although not valuable industrially because it 
contains few natural resources, the Balkan Peninsula is of 
great importance because of its geographical location. It 
is the gateway to the East and the route to the Mediterra- 
nean. The European Powers have been interested in the 
fate of the peninsula mainly because it is the connecting link 
with the regions mentioned, where they have interests to 
protect or ambitions to satisfy. 

During the first half of the nineteenth century the 
Powers most interested in Turkish affairs were Russia and 
Great Britain. The geographical position of Constantinople 
makes this city the key to the commerce of the Eastern 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 627 

Mediterranean, and puts it in control of the natural out- 
let of Russia to this sea. In case of war Rus- Motives of 
sia could be bottled up by whatever Power ^ring^ 
was in possession of the Bosphorus and the upon Turkey 
Dardanelles. The acquisition of Constantinople has, there- 
fore, been a fixed point in Russia's foreign policy for several 
centuries. Russia's racial and religious affinities with the 
Slavic subjects of the Sultan had inspired her with the 
idealistic motive of liberating her "little Slav brothers" 
from the rule of the hated Turk. Moreover, to supplant the 
crescent with the cross on the dome of the great mosque 
of St. Sophia, once a Christian church, has greatly appealed 
to the religious imagination of the Russian people, to whom 
a war with Turkey would partake of the nature of a crusade. 
England, on the contrary, was interested in maintaining 
the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and was chiefly instru- 
mental in foiling Russia's many attempts to Motives of 
dismember it. England's attitude may be ex- defending ° r 
plained by the fact that some of her citizens had Turkey 
large commercial interests in the Near East which, she 
feared, would be put in jeopardy in case Russia control the 
region. There was also the dread lest the capture of Con- 
stantinople might be preliminary to a Russian advance 
upon India; hence, to many English statesmen the safety of 
the British Empire appeared to depend upon the integrity 
of the Ottoman Empire. 

Independence of Greece (1821-29) 
Like the other peoples of Europe, those in the Balkans 
were inspired by the ideals of nationalism and democracy 
proclaimed by the French Revolution. After National 
centuries of oppression there began a national a m ngthe 
revival among the races in the peninsula which Greeks 
was to end in their emancipation from the rule of the Sultan. 
Nationalism was especially strong among the Greeks, who 
found it intolerable that the "descendants of the wise and 
noble people of Hellas," as they called themselves, should 
bow beneath the Turkish yoke. A powerful secret society 



628 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

was formed, the Hetairia Philike (Association of Friends), 
which conducted a vigorous and widespread agitation for 
Greek independence. An uprising in 1821 was followed by 
a war between the Greeks and Turks which was waged 
with savage fury by both sides for eight years. The en- 
counters which took place were more in the nature of mas- 
sacres than battles. Captured towns would be given over 
to pillage and slaughter; nor was age, condition, or sex 
spared. 

The uprising of the Greeks awakened general enthusiasm 
throughout Europe, and many ardent lovers of ancient 
Foreign aid Hellas, among them the English poet Byron, 
to Greece volunteered to help in the Greek struggle for 

helps her to . T • r i 

win inde- independence. In spite of many valorous deeds, 
pendence ^e Greeks would have succumbed to the supe- 
rior forces of Turkey had not Russia, England, and France 
intervened in their behalf. The Powers were induced to 
champion the cause of Greece chiefly through the influence 
of thousands of their citizens in whom the memory of the 
ancient land of philosophy, literature, and art had roused 
an intense desire to see it freed from Turkish misrule. In 
1827 the representatives of the Powers met in London and 
demanded an armistice of the Sultan; but before final 
arrangements for this were made, a Turkish squadron was 
destroyed by the fleets of the Allies at the Battle of Nava- 
rino. The Sultan was furious, and he determined to resist 
the demands of the Powers at all costs. England now with- 
drew from the alliance because she feared that a war might 
lead to the destruction of Turkey, a consummation which 
she by no means desired. Tsar Nicholas I decided to wage 
war on his own account. Russian armies defeated the Turks 
in several battles and began marching toward Constanti- 
nople. At the same time French armies drove the Turks 
out of Morea, or southern Greece. These reverses compelled 
the Sultan to sue for peace, and he signed the Treaty of 
Adrianople (1829) granting complete independence to 
Greece. In 1833 the latter was organized as a constitutional 
monarchy with a Bavarian prince, Otto, as her first king. 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 629 

Another people, the Serbians, benefited indirectly from 
the Greek revolution. Some time before, in 1804, they had 
risen under a swineherd named Kara George, Serbia wins 
and had partially won their independence; but autonom y 
they were later reconquered. In 1815 they rose again, under 
another national hero named Milosch Obrenovitch, and 
defeated the Turks. This led to their being granted local 
autonomy in 1830 under the suzerainty of the Sultan. 
Obrenovitch was made ruler with the title of "Hereditary 
Prince of the Serbians." 

The Crimean War (1854-56) 

Russia emerged from the war of 1828-29 with little gain 
in territory, 1 but with great prestige among the peoples of 
the Balkans, who now began to regard her as R uss j an d e _ 
the "big Slav brother" who was to liberate them signs upon 
from Turkish oppression. To Turkey, Russia 
was now the enemy to be feared above all others; she well 
knew that the Tsar's ambition to gain "a window on the 
Mediterranean" would lead to renewed attempts to cap- 
ture Constantinople. Tsar Nicholas I was convinced that 
the Ottoman Empire was on the point of dissolution. He 
once referred to Turkey as the "sick man of Europe," 
whose death was imminent and whose estate ought, there- 
fore, to be partitioned among the Powers. He several times 
suggested to the English Government that Great Britain 
and Russia agree upon a plan for the dismemberment of 
Turkey; but the former failing to fall in with the scheme, 
the Tsar determined to take the matter into his own hands. 

An excuse for war was found in a quarrel that arose over 
the holy places in Palestine. For centuries Christian pil- 
grims had been visiting the places in the Holy The quarre i 
Land that are considered especially sacred be- pver the 

r 1 • • • 1 1 it c r^\ ' ^ no 'y places 

cause of their connection with the hie 01 Christ. 
In 1850 a quarrel arose between the Roman Catholic and 
Greek Orthodox monks living in Palestine over the control 
of these holy places. Russia came forward as the champion 

1 She obtained a small concession in the Caucasus. 



630 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

of the Greek Orthodox monks, and made a peremptory 
demand that the Sultan grant her a protectorate over all 
the Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey. The Sultan re- 
fused on the ground that such a concession would give 
Russia the right to interfere in the internal affairs of his 
dominions. 

War followed in 1854; but it was not between Russia 
and Turkey alone. To the support of Turkey came England, 
. , as the champion of the integrity of the Ottoman 

Russia faces ^ 7 

a coalition Empire, and France and Piedmont, for reasons 
that have already been stated. 1 To the amaze- 
ment and anger of Tsar Nicholas, Austria maintained an 
attitude of friendly neutrality toward Turkey. He had 
fully expected Austria's help in return for the services 
Russian armies had rendered to the Hapsburgs in the try- 
ing days of 1848, 2 and he bitterly resented what he regarded 
as ungrateful conduct. The estrangement between Russia 
and Austria, begun as a result of the Crimean War, con- 
tinued with increasing bitterness, and it was to influence 
international relations for many years to come. Prussia 
alone maintained an attitude of benevolent neutrality 
toward Russia, which was now faced by a coalition of prac- 
tically all the Great Powers of Europe. 

Russian armies invaded Moldavia and Wallachia, the 
Danubian provinces of Turkey, but were driven out by the 
The fall of forces of the Allies. It was now decided to pun- 
Sebastopol ^ R uss j an aggression by invading the Tsar's 
territory. Accordingly, large Allied armies invaded Crimea 
and laid siege to Sebastopol, which had been magnificently 
fortified by Russia with the object of dominating the Black 
Sea. The siege of Sebastopol, lasting eleven months, was 
the crucial event of the Crimean War. The great fortress 
was gallantly and ably defended; but it finally fell, on Sep- 
tember 8, 1855. Many bloody battles were fought during 
the siege, the most famous of which were Alma, Balaklava, 
and Inkermann. The Charge of the Light Brigade at 
Balaklava, a troop of six hundred English soldiers against 

1 See pp. 162, 211. 2 See p. 135. 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 631 

a large Russian army, roused the greatest admiration all 
over the world and was immortalized in poetry by Tenny- 
son. The conduct of the war on the part of England was 
disgracefully incompetent, and thousands of soldiers per- 
ished through a breakdown of the English commissariat. 
Only two striking personalities emerged from the struggle, 
the Russian military engineer, Colonel Todleben, whose 
gallant defense of Sebastopol won universal admiration, and 
the English nurse, Florence Nightingale, whose tenderness 
and bravery while nursing the wounded soldiers gained her 
the deepest gratitude and affection, and whose labors in- 
spired the organization, a generation later, of the Red Cross 
Society. 

Peace was concluded in 1856 at the Congress of Paris. 
The treaty, which was signed by England, France, Russia, 
Turkey, Austria, Prussia, and Piedmont, pro- The Peace 
vided that the Black Sea be "neutralized"; of Paris 
that is, that no nation was to build arsenals on its coast or 
station warships in its waters. Navigation on the Danube 
River was made free to all nations, and Russia was pushed 
from the banks of that river by the annexation of a strip of 
Bessarabia to Moldavia. Russia's claim to a protectorate 
of the Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey was denied. 
The Danubian provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, were 
each granted local autonomy under Turkish suzerainty. 

Directly, the Crimean War accomplished little in the 
solution of the Near Eastern Question. Turkey came out 
unscathed and even respectable, for she was Results of 
recognized as a member of the European family the war 
of nations for the first time by the Congress of Paris. The 
Sultan continued to oppress his Christian subjects in spite 
of promises to the contrary. Russia, too, violated the treaty 
by ignoring the clauses relating to the neutrality of the 
Black Sea. Indirectly, however, the results of the war were 
far-reaching. In Russia it led to the emancipation of the 
serfs; * in Italy, to the first step toward unification; in France, 
to the increase of Napoleon's influence. 

1 See p. 507. 



632 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The Russo-Turkish War (1877-78) 

For a generation after the Crimean War British influence 

in the Balkans was predominant. Turkey regarded England 

as the bulwark of her defense against Russian 

Rumania . . - -. . , ,. . 

aggression and, therefore, directed her policies 
to please the English Government. But the dismemberment 
of the Turkish dominions could not be stayed. Moldavia 
and Wallachia, both inhabited by Rumanians, desired to be 
united and to form an independent nation. In 1859 each 
province elected Colonel Alexander Couza as its Prince; 
and three years later, both provinces were completely 
united under one government with Couza as "Prince of 
Rumania." Couza proved to be a radical reformer. He 
freed the peasants from feudal dues, confiscated the prop- 
erty of the monasteries, and gave land to thousands of 
peasants. Naturally, his reforms incurred the hostility of 
the nobility and clergy, who in 1866 forced him to abdicate. 
As his successor they chose a member of the Roman Cath- 
olic branch of the House of Hohenzollern, who became 
Charles I, Prince of Rumania. 

Turkish misgovernment was bound to bring the Near 
Eastern Question again to the foreground of European poli- 
Th B j tics. The peasants of Herzegovina, unable to 
garian atro- endure the heavy taxes and inhuman cruelty of 

the Turkish officials, rose in rebellion in 1875. 
The insurrection spread all over the peninsula. In the fol- 
lowing year the Bulgarians rose and killed many Turkish 
officials. In revenge, savage warriors, called Bashi-Bazouks, 
were sent into Bulgaria, and they fell upon the inhab- 
itants, slaughtering men, women, and children without 
mercy. These "Bulgarian atrocities" roused all Europe 
against the Turk. Gladstone came forward as the cham- 
pion of the Christians and denounced the "unspeakable 
Turk" in unqualified language. He demanded that Eng- 
land cease to support a Power that was an "affront to the 
laws of God " and that the Turks be driven out of Eu- 
rope, "bag and baggage." 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 633 

In 1876 a new Sultan came to the throne in the person of 
Abdul Hamid II, who proved to be as cruel and despotic 
as he was cunning and resourceful. As we have Intervention 
just seen, the year of his accession witnessed a ° Russia 
general uprising of his Christian subjects which aroused 
wide sympathy, especially among the Russian people, many 
of whom volunteered to help their "little Slav brothers." 
Tsar Alexander II declared that the situation in the Bal- 
kans was intolerable and that unless Europe intervened 
promptly and firmly, Russia would do so herself. But the 
Powers, particularly England, hesitated; whereupon, in 
1877, the Tsar declared war upon Turkey. 

Russian armies promptly crossed the Danube and invaded 
Turkey. Plevna, a Turkish stronghold in Bulgaria, was 
defended by a large army under the able and 
gallant Turkish general, Osman Pasha. The 
Russian forces made several attempts to carry it by storm, 
but were hurled back each time with great loss. Plevna was 
then besieged by a Russian army of one hundred and twenty 
thousand men under General Todleben, the hero of Sebas- 
topol. After holding out for five months Osman Pasha sur- 
rendered on December 10, 1877. The passes across the 
Balkans were now open, and Russian armies poured into 
Turkey. In January, 1878, they captured Adrianople and 
prepared to march on Constantinople. But the Sultan de- 
cided to sue for peace; and on March 3 the Treaty of San 
Stefano was signed by Russia and Turkey. 

According to this treaty the Sultan agreed to recognize 
the complete independence of Serbia, Montenegro, and 
Rumania; a new state, "Greater Bulgaria," Treaty of 
consisting of Bulgaria, Rumelia, and Macedonia, San Stefan0 
was to come into existence. p Of all his European territory 
the Sultan was allowed to keep Constantinople and its 
vicinity and Albania. Had this treaty been carried out, 
the Near Eastern Question might have then been solved, 
as Turkish rule would practically have ceased in Europe. 
But great objections were raised to this settlement by 
the Greeks and Serbians, who opposed the creation of a 



634 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

"Greater Bulgaria " because they wanted parts of Mace- 
donia for themselves. Far more serious was the opposition 
that came from England and Austria. The former did not 
propose to sit tamely by and see Turkey dismembered to 
the advantage of Russia, who would, in all likelihood, 
dominate the new states which her arms had brought into 
existence. Austria, on her part, was ambitious to get a port 
on the iEgean, perhaps Saloniki, which the Treaty of San 
Stefano, if carried out, would put out of her reach. Tsar 
Alexander was plainly told that the Balkan situation was 
a matter for all of Europe to settle, and that war would 
be declared against Russia unless she submitted the whole 
matter to the judgment of an international convention. 

Russia felt obliged to yield. Representatives of England, 
Russia, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, and Turkey 
Congress of met in 1878 at Berlin to settle the Near East- 
Berlin ern Question. To this Congress of Berlin came 
the most famous statesmen of the day; Bismarck, who was 
its President; Disraeli, who scored diplomatic triumphs as 
England's envoy; and Prince Gortchakov, who came as 
the champion of Russia. The Treaty of San Stefano was 
totally disregarded by the Congress, which proceeded 
to make quite another settlement of the Near Eastern 
Question. 

The main provisions of the Treaty of Berlin were as 
follows. Montenegro, Serbia, and Rumania were declared 
entirely independent of Turkey. "Greater Bulgaria" was 
split into three parts: Bulgaria proper was made an autono- 
mous state with the Sultan as her suzerain; Eastern Ru- 
melia was given "administrative autonomy" under a 
Christian governor; and Macedonia was allowed to remain 
a part of Turkey. To Austria-Hungary was given the right 
to occupy and to administer the provinces of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, but with the understanding that they were 
legally to remain a part of Turkey ; she also received special 
commercial and military privileges in the Sanjak, or County, 
of Novi Bazaar. England was given the right to occupy the 
island of Cyprus. Russia, who alone had won the victory 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 635 

over Turkey, got almost nothing. She was allowed to ex- 
change with Rumania the Dobrudja district for the strip 
of Bessarabia on the northern bank of the Danube. After 
thus partitioning most of the dominions of the Sultan, 
the Powers again solemnly guaranteed the "integrity" 
of Turkey. 

The Treaty of Berlin was considered by many at the 
time as the final solution of the Near Eastern Question. 
But that did not prove to be the case, as the The Near 
settlement left bitter animosities, which were Eastern 

Question not 

to be productive of future wars. Bulgaria was solved by 
especially disappointed and began preparing for t e on s ress 
the recovery of the "Greater Bulgaria" of San Stefano. 
Russia was incensed at being robbed of the fruits of her 
victory, and, in revenge, began to threaten English inter- 
ests in India 1 and to intrigue against Austria in the Bal- 
kans. 2 England, in the words of Disraeli, achieved "peace 
with honor" in settling the affairs of Turkey; but time was 
to prove that she "put her money on the wrong horse," 
as Lord Salisbury, the colleague of Disraeli, later declared. 
A new factor, Austria, entered prominently into Balkan 
affairs, a circumstance fraught with ominous consequences 
for the history of Europe. Germany, as yet, took no interest 
in Turkey. In the opinion of Bismarck the whole Near 
Eastern Question was not worth "the bones of a Pomera- 
nian grenadier." He contented himself, as President of the 
Congress of Berlin, with playing the part of "an honest 
broker" among the Powers by acting as intermediary be- 
tween the various claimants. 

Bulgaria (1878-1912) 

Bulgaria owed her existence, as we have seen, to Russia, 
who regarded the newly created Balkan state as her spe- 
cial protege. Prince Alexander of Battenberg, R uss ; an j n . 
a relative of the Tsar, was made Prince of Bui- fluence in 

„ , . . , , Bulgaria 

garia in 1879, and a constitution was adopted 
establishing a parliament elected by universal suffrage. 
1 See p. 673. 2 See p. 707. 



636 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Most of the important officials, both civil and military, were 
Russians, and they directed Bulgarian policies to suit Rus- 
sian interests. This aroused opposition among patriotic 
Bulgarians, and a strong Nationalist Party, whose motto 
was "Bulgaria for the Bulgarians," demanded that their 
country be freed from Russian interference. 

In 1885 the inhabitants of Eastern Rumelia flouted the 
Treaty of Berlin, and, with the consent of Prince Alexan- 
War be- der, joined their kinsmen in Bulgaria. This 
biaand er " greatly annoyed Russia, who did not desire her 
Bulgaria protege to become strong enough to manage 
without her tutelage. The Tsar, in anger, withdrew the 
Russian officers from the Bulgarian army, thus badly crip- 
pling it. Serbia, the rival of Bulgaria, took advantage of the 
situation by declaring war in 1885; but, in spite of the dis- 
organized condition of their army, the Bulgarians inflicted 
severe defeats upon the Serbians and emerged triumphant 
from the war. 

The Russian party, incensed at the independent attitude 

of Prince Alexander, organized a conspiracy against him, 

, , and in 1886 he was forcibly compelled to abdi- 

Stambulov 1 a » 1 1 1 • r 1 

cate. lo succeed Alexander, the choice of the 
anti-Russian Nationalist Party fell upon the German 
Prince, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, who was elected Prince 
of Bulgaria in 1887 by the Bulgarian Parliament. Stam- 
bulov, the leader of the Nationalists, having the full con- 
fidence of Ferdinand, dominated Bulgarian politics in 
opposition to Russian influence. He became known as the 
"Bulgarian Bismarck" because of the thoroughness with 
which he organized his country's government and army 
and because of his ruthless suppression of opposition to his 
rule. The many enemies that he made conspired to destroy 
him, and in 1895 they succeeded in having him assassinated. 
Bulgaria was very ambitious to annex Macedonia in 
-r, , • order to get an outlet to the JEgean Sea; but 

Bulgaria ° ... 

becomes a in this she encountered the opposition, not only 
kingdom of Turkey> but also of Serbia and Greece, who 

were also ambitious to expand in this direction. Bulgaria 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 637 

declared her complete independence of Turkey in 1908; 
and, as a sign of her increased dignity, she proclaimed her- 
self a kingdom instead of a principality, and Ferdinand took 
the title of King, or Tsar, of the Bulgarians. 

Rumania (1878-1912) 

In recognizing the independence of Rumania the Con- 
gress of Berlin stipulated that equality be granted to all 
citizens irrespective of their religious beliefs. Persecution 
This was done mainly to protect the interests of the J ews 
of the Jews, who were being discriminated against by the 
Government. But Rumania ignored this provision of the 
treaty and by law classed the Jews as aliens, and there- 
fore not entitled to the privileges of citizenship. The per- 
secution of the Jews which followed caused many of them 
to emigrate to the United States. 

Prince Charles and his wife Elizabeth, 1 although for- 
eigners, were very popular with their subjects. A thorough 
reorganization of the administration and of the army was 
undertaken, and a high degree of efficiency was introduced 
into the Government, mainly on the initiative of the Prince, 
who was able, hard-working, and conscientious. He was 
given large powers in the Government, as the constitution 
was framed on the Prussian model, with the three-class 
system of voting for members of Parliament. Charles died 
in 1914 and he was succeeded by Ferdinand I. 

Rumania, like the other Balkan states, was eager to 
expand. The Russian province of Bessarabia, the Aus- 
trian province of Bukowina, and the Hunga- The « un . 
rian province of Transylvania contained many redeemed" 
Rumanians; not unnaturally, therefore, the 
Rumanians wished to "redeem" their brothers from for- 
eign rule. But Rumania was not strong enough to attempt 
their redemption and contented herself with watching the 
domestic politics of the Dual Monarchy. 

In 1907 a serious outbreak of the peasantry took place, 

1 She gained fame and popularity as a poetess under the pen-name of "Car- 
men Sylva." 



638 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

which was directed against the landlords and their agents 
Outbreak of because of their harsh methods. The insurrec- 
the peasants t j on S p reac j rapidly, and it took an army of 
one hundred and fifty thousand men to suppress it. Im- 
portant reforms were then made by the Government. Taxes 
on peasants' lands were reduced, leases of land to middle- 
men were restricted, and land banks were established to aid 
needy peasants. 

Greece (1832-19 12) 

At the beginning of her national life Greece was a dev- 
astated, poverty-stricken land with less than a million 
Problems of inhabitants. Two great problems faced the 
Greece Greek people: to reorganize their country on a 

sound economic and political basis and to acquire the 
parts of Turkey inhabited mainly by Greeks. 

King Otto was hailed with enthusiasm on his accession 
to the throne. But because of his arbitrary conduct and 
Extension of because of his filling the offices with Bavari- 
democracy anS) he became very unpopular. In order to 
avoid an uprising, Otto granted a liberal constitution (1844) 
providing for a legislature elected by the people and a 
Ministry responsible to Parliament. This concession won 
him a new lease of power; but later he again became unpopu- 
lar and in 1862 he was forced to abdicate. A son of King 
Christian IX of Denmark was chosen King of the Hellenes 
under the name of George I (1863). The constitution was 
then radically revised (1864) in favor of a more thoroughly 
democratic regime. The Senate was abolished, and the 
Government was put under the control of a parliament of 
one house, the Boule, elected by universal suffrage. 

The territory of Greece was enlarged in 1864 by the ac- 
quisition of the Ionian Islands, ceded to her by England; 
Pan- later (1881), through the good offices of that 

Hellenism country, she acquired Thessaly from the Sultan. 
Nevertheless, fully one half of the Greek people remained 
under Turkish rule, distributed through Macedonia, Epirus, 
and the islands of the ^Egean Sea. A Pan-Hellenic move- 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 639 

ment, known as the "Great Idea," manifested itself in a 
longing to wrest these lands from Turkey; and some of the 
more enthusiastic patriots dreamed of taking Constanti- 
nople itself and of reestablishing the old Byzantine Empire 
under Greek auspices. The large island of Crete, inhabited 
almost entirely by Greeks, made many attempts to throw 
off the Turkish yoke and to join Greece. To aid her in 
accomplishing this purpose Greece declared war against 
Turkey in 1897, but she was badly defeated by that Power. 
A powerful exponent of Pan-Hellenism appeared in the 
person of Eleutherios Venizelos, a Cretan, who became 
the leader of the nationalist movement against Turkey 
in the island. In 1910 he was appointed Prime Minister 
of Greece, and he now turned his unusual diplomatic abil- 
ities toward enlarging Greece and organizing the Balkan 
nations into an alliance against Turkey. 

Serbia and Montenegro (1878-1912) 
The political history of Serbia during the nineteenth 
century is largely a narrative of dynastic feuds that raged 
violently between the Karageorgevitches and The rival 
the Obrenovitches. Plots, assassinations, and rl y nasties 
uprisings were common occurrences in Serbian affairs, and 
the possession of the crown oscillated between the two 
dynasties. 

Prince Milan, an Obrenovitch, who became ruler in 
1868, assumed the more dignified title of King in 1882. He 
ruled as an absolute monarch, supported by the Rule of the 
aristocratic party and by Austrian influences. Obreno- 
The unsuccessful war with Bulgaria in 1885 
made the King very unpopular, and he sought to conciliate 
his disaffected subjects by granting a liberal constitution 
in 1889. But the dissatisfaction was not allayed by this 
concession, and he was forced to abdicate in favor of his 
son, who succeeded to the throne as Alexander I in 1889. 

The new King was even more autocratic than his father. 
He disregarded the constitution entirely and inaugurated 
a period of personal rule. Widespread opposition due to 



640 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

deep resentment at his course led to the formation of a 
Assassina- well-laid conspiracy under the direction of army 
tion of King officers. In 1903 King Alexander, his wife Draga, 
and nearly all the members of the Obrenovitch 
family were assassinated. Peter, a Karageorgevitch, was 
then proclaimed King, and the constitution of 1889 was 
restored. 

This dynastic coup d'Stat had important diplomatic con- 
sequences. Austrian influences in Serbia ceased to have 
Serbia's weight, because Peter's policies were pro-Rus- 

Austrian s * an - Serbia now succeeded Bulgaria as the pro- 
policies tege of the Tsar. A vigorous anti-Austrian policy 
was inaugurated with the object of annexing Bosnia- 
Herzegovina, which are inhabited by Serbs. Patriotic Serb 
societies carried on an active propaganda in these provinces 
to the great anxiety of the Austrian authorities. In retalia- 
tion the latter began a tariff war on Serbia by excluding her 
exports, mainly swine and farm products. As Serbian trade 
was almost entirely with Austria and Germany, this "pig 
war" of 1905 brought great hardship to the Serbians and 
still further embittered them against Austria. When, in 
1908, Austria announced the formal annexation of Bosnia- 
Herzegovina, the Serbians were infuriated to the point of 
war; it required the restraining hand of Russia to prevent 
an instant outbreak of hostilities. 1 

The other Serb nation, Montenegro, was for many years 

an autonomous state in the Ottoman Empire. After her 

independence was recognized by the Congress 

Montenegro . _, ,. _ _ & , , . „ 

of Berlin, Montenegro was ruled autocratically 
by Prince Nicholas, and it was not until 1905 that he 
granted a constitution establishing a parliamentary regime. 
In 1910 Prince Nicholas, although the ruler of the smallest 
state in the Balkans, assumed the dignified title of King. 

Turkey (1878-1912) 

Turkey came out of the Congress of Berlin greatly re- 
duced in size, but she was still a European Power and one to 

1 See p. 645. 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 641 

be reckoned with. In spite of solemn promises to reform the 
Government, Abdul Hamid's regime continued Turkey un- 
to be corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical. re P entant 
Turkey was beaten but unrepentant. For a generation the 
wily Sultan managed to avoid foreign intervention by play- 
ing off one Christian Power against another, knowing full 
well that the nations of Europe were far more interested 
in advancing their own interests than in the fate of his 
Christian subjects, about whom they pretended to be so 
solicitous. 

Disorder was rife in Macedonia, where rival bands of 
Bulgars, Serbs, Rumanians, and Greeks, aided by their 
compatriots from without, made war on the Growth of 
Turks and upon each other. Innocent travelers Amen^n* 6 
were frequently sufferers from these brigand- massacres 
patriots, who infested the mountains and who were not 
averse to robbing those who came their way. In Albania 
the warlike mountaineers were ever ready to rise in rebellion 
at the approach of the Turkish tax collectors. In Constanti- 
nople plots were being continually hatched against Abdul 
Hamid and his regime. In 1894 the world was shocked by 
wholesale massacres of the Armenians, who were suspected 
of being implicated in these plots. More than one hundred 
thousand men, women, and children were cruelly slaugh- 
tered by the Kurds, a fanatical Mohammedan tribe, whose 
religious zeal was fanned into a flame by the Turkish author- 
ities. Once more the world, and especially England, gave 
vent to moral indignation at the slaughter of these Chris- 
tians, who had no country of their own to defend them. 

During the period following the Congress of Berlin a 
profound change was taking place in the attitude of the 
European Powers toward Turkey. Russia, dis- R uss ia and 
appointed at the outcome of the Russo-Turkish En g land 

• • ' ose ln terest 

War, retired from Balkan affairs and sought to in the Bal- 
find a "window on the Pacific." England, the kans 
traditional upholder of Turkish integrity and long the most 
influential factor in directing the policies of the Porte, 
began to lose interest in the Near Eastern Question, be- 



642 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

cause the acquisition of Egypt and the Suez Canal safe- 
guarded her route to India. 

A new Power, Germany, now came upon the scene and 
quickly assumed the leading role in Ottoman affairs. On 
r>. , n the retirement of Bismarck, the German atti- 

Kise or Uer- ' 

man influ- tude toward the Balkans was reversed ; the 
former indifference gave place to an intense 
interest in the fate of Turkey. The goal of Germany's 
ambitions lay, not in European, but in Asiatic Turkey, 
where she planned to secure economic control of the re- 
gion known as Mesopotamia, which offered a rich field for 
the investment of German capital. To get concessions 
from the Porte to exploit this region, German diplomacy 
had to become all-powerful at Constantinople; and studied 
efforts were made by the Germans to cultivate the friend- 
ship of the Turks. In 1883 General von der Goltz, a Ger- 
man, was appointed by the Sultan to reorganize the Turkish 
army, and Turkish officers were sent for instruction to the 
German military schools. Emperor William II paid two 
visits to the Sultan, one in 1889 and another in 1898, to 
show his high regard for his fellow sovereign. During his 
second visit the Kaiser delivered an address in which he 
fervently proclaimed himself the friend of the Mohamme- 
dans. Great care was taken by the Germans not to wound 
the susceptibilities of the Sultan by criticizing his Govern- 
ment. A capable diplomat, Baron Marschall von Bieber- 
stein, was the German Ambassador to Turkey from 1897 
to 191 2, during which period he practically controlled the 
policies of the Porte, largely in Germany's interest and to 
the detriment of that of England. The first important 
gain made by Germany was a concession to her capitalists 
to build the Bagdad Railway (1899). 1 

Abdul Hamid's regime was arousing great discontent, 
and uprisings constantly took place in Macedonia, Albania, 
"Young Arabia, and Crete. The finances were in such a 
Turkey" ^^ con( \[x\ on that the Government was always 
verging on bankruptcy. Promises of reform were often 

1 See p. 704. 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 643 

made by the Sultan and as often disregarded. Many patri- 
otic Turks began to realize that any day might witness the 
spontaneous dissolution of their country, so great was the 
disorder, incompetence, and corruption. At last a movement 
to reform the Government appeared among the Turks 
themselves. A group, known as the "Young Turks," be- 
gan advocating radical reforms in the hope of rejuvenating 
their country by introducing Western ideas, methods, and 
institutions. Many of the younger generation had been 
educated in the schools of Western Europe, particularly in 
those of France, where they had imbibed modern ideas. 
They were convinced that Turkey could be saved from final 
disruption only by adopting the twin principles of the 
French Revolution, nationalism and democracy. 

Secret societies were organized, the most famous of 
which was the Committee of Union and Progress, that con- 
ducted an active revolutionary movement. The Revolution 
"Young Turks," realizing that it was necessary of I9 ° 8 
to win over the army in order to succeed in their plans, 
spread their propaganda among the officers and induced 
many of them to join the movement. With a swiftness and 
sureness that astonished the world, the Committee of 
Union and Progress executed a coup d'etat on July 23, 1908, 
by proclaiming the constitution of 1876. 1 They then de- 
manded of the Sultan that he legalize their action by a 
decree, and they prepared to employ the army against him 
in case he refused. Abdul Hamid yielded and issued a call 
for the election of a parliament. Before long he began to 
plot the overthrow of the constitution. When his duplicity 
was discovered, an army under the command of Shevket 
Pasha, a "Young Turk" general, took possession of Con- 
stantinople in the name of Parliament. Abdul Hamid, 
after a long reign of thirty-three years, was deposed and 
sent to the city of Saloniki to live in closely guarded seclu- 
sion. His brother succeeded to the throne and was crowned 
as Mohammed V on May 10, 1909. 

1 On his accession, in 1876, Abdul Hamid had proclaimed a constitution, 
which he abrogated two years later. 



644 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

There was widespread joy over the deposition of Abdul 
Hamid. The terror which for so many years had hung over 
The new the inhabitants of the Empire vanished with the 
liberal era f a u f t h e d rea d Sultan. Freedom of speech, of 
the press, and of assembly was granted; Mohammedans, 
Jews, and Christians were declared equal before the law; 
Christians were now admitted into the army, hitherto 
restricted, to Mohammedans only. A new era had indeed 
opened for Turkey, with liberty, equality, and fraternity 
for all the races and religions under the Ottoman flag. 

The "Young Turks," however, were intense believers in 
the principle of nationalism. In spite of their liberal pro- 
National- fessions they therefore set about to Ottomanize 
" Young 16 tne various races in the Empire by centralizing 
Turks" the administration, by establishing a system of 

national schools wherein Turkish was taught, and by re- 
moving the privileges as well as the disabilities of the various 
races in the Empire. Through such methods they hoped to 
generate a spirit of patriotism among the diverse elements, 
that Turkey would no longer have to appeal to the re- 
ligious fanaticism of the Mohammedans in case of war. 
The "Young Turks" also wished to free their country from 
the interference of foreign nations in its internal affairs. 
In the past a system known as "capitulations" had grown 
up, whereby the various European Powers obtained special 
treaty rights in Turkey. France exercised a protectorate 
over the Roman Catholics; European residents were not 
subject to the jurisdiction of the local authorities, but to 
that of their own consuls ; no tariff could be enacted except 
by an agreement with the Powers ; foreign merchants were 
frequently exempted from taxation and so possessed priv- 
ileges denied to the natives. The "Young Turks" chafed 
under these "capitulations," which made Turkey a kind of 
dependency of Europe ; and they began to abrogate them, 
which aroused the hostility of the Powers, many of whose 
citizens had large commercial interests in the Empire. The 
new regime looked with friendly eyes toward England, 
because she was considered the chief supporter of liberal 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 645 

governments. The new Grand Vizier, Kiamil Pasha, was an 
especially warm admirer of the English. Germany, being 
regarded as the supporter of the old regime, lost her ascend- 
ancy for a time. 

But the new era of good feeling was destined to last only 
a short time. The various races in Turkey did not wish to 
be Ottomanized, and they vigorously resisted Opposition to 
the nationalistic tendencies of the "Young the national- 
Turks." For centuries they had lived a life "Young 
apart, with their own customs, languages, and Turks ' 
laws, and protected in their autonomy by special laws. To 
give these up in return for "equality" might make matters 
much worse. They had hailed the downfall of Abdul Hamid 
with delight, expecting still more privileges from the new 
regime; now they feared the liberty and equality of the 
"Young Turks" far more than they had the tyranny of the 
old Sultan. In its efforts to centralize the Government, the 
new regime endeavored to bring Albania and Arabia under 
more direct control of Constantinople, which caused a 
series of uprisings in these regions, where Turkish authority 
had always been more or less lax. In Macedonia, too, the 
Government's attempt to strengthen the Mohammedan 
element by sending Turkish immigrants resulted in upris- 
ings among the Christians. The Greeks in Crete rose in 
rebellion and declared for union with Greece. 

The European Powers were not over-eager to see Turkey 
reformed. They preferred that evil conditions continue in 
order to furnish them with excuses to interfere Powers take 
for the sake of territory and concessions. Taking Turkey's 6 ° f 
advantage of the confusion caused by the troubles 
"Young Turk" Revolution, Austria violated the Treaty of 
Berlin by announcing, on October 7, 1908, the annexation 
of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A few days earlier Prince Ferdi- 
nand of Bulgaria had repudiated Turkish suzerainty. In 
191 1 Italy declared war and seized Tripoli, Cyrenaica, and 
some Aegean islands. These acts, done evidently with the 
consent of the Powers, brought about a reaction in Turkey. 
The methods and policies of Abdul Hamid were revived by 



646 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the "Young Turks," who were panic-stricken lest their 
country be dismembered in spite of its rejuvenation. Ger- 
many now came forward as the champion of Turkish integ- 
rity, and, once more, her influence gained ascendancy at 
Constantinople. 

The Balkan Wars (19 12-13) 

The various Balkan nations, long divided by jealousies 
and rival ambitions, saw their opportunity in the distracted 
The Balkan state of Turkey. Largely under the inspiration 
Alliance Q £ Venizelos, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and 
Montenegro formed an alliance with the object of making 
war upon their ancient enemy. The Balkan Allies demanded 
of the Porte that reforms be instituted in Macedonia. This 
was tantamount to a notice that war was imminent, and 
both sides mobilized in October, 191 2. The Great Powers, 
who had just been on the brink of war on account of 
Morocco, 1 were consequently in no mood for another inter- 
national crisis; they therefore admonished the Allies not to 
press their claims, as no territorial changes would be per- 
mitted by them in European Turkey. But the little Balkan 
states scouted the warning and decided to wage a "holy 
war" against their hereditary foe. They sent an ultimatum 
to the Porte, demanding local autonomy for Macedonia, 
which was refused. War was declared on October 17, 191 2. 

Turkey was attacked on four sides at the same time, as 
the movements of the Allies were well coordinated. The 
The first Montenegrins invaded Albania; the Serbians, 
Balkan War Northern Macedonia; the Bulgarians, Thrace; 
and the Greeks, Southern Macedonia. General Savoff, with 
an army of three hundred thousand Bulgarians, captured 
Kirk-Kilisseh. He then engaged the enemy at the great 
Battle of Lule Burgas (October 27 to November 2), where a 
Turkish army of one hundred and fifty thousand was com- 
pletely routed by the Bulgarians, who displayed great skill 
and courage. The Turks were driven to seek refuge behind 
the fortress of Tchatalja, which barred the way to Constan- 

1 See p. 707. 



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Acquisitions of New Territory through the 
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Longitude East from Greenwich 24 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 647 

tinople. The Serbians, too, won notable successes in the 
western field. They occupied Prishtina, Novi Bazaar, and 
Monastir; and on November 28 they captured the impor- 
tant seaport of Durazzo. The Greeks invaded Macedonia 
from the south; and, after a series of victories, they laid 
siege to Saloniki, which surrendered on November 8. The 
Greek navy did notable service by blockading Turkish ports 
and by capturing many islands in the JEgea.n. 

At the instance of Sir Edward Grey, the English Foreign 
Minister, an armistice preliminary to peace was signed in 
London on December 3, 1912. The armistice, Efforts for , 
however, accomplished nothing, for Turkey re- peace fai1 
fused to surrender Adrianople to Bulgaria and the ^gean 
Islands to Greece. Hostilities were resumed early in Febru- 
ary of the following year. The Greeks captured Janina, and 
a combined army of Serbs and Bulgarians forced their way 
into Adrianople. Scutari, an important town in Albania, 
was invested by an army of Montenegrins, who continued 
to besiege it even after a second armistice was made to 
negotiate a peace. It fell on April 23, 1913. 

Representatives of the belligerent nations met at Lon- 
don, where, on May 30, 1913, they concluded peace. Ac- 
cording to the Treaty of London, Turkey was The Treaty 
practically ousted from Europe, as she was of London 
compelled to cede to the Allies all her European territory 
except Constantinople and the adjacent region, which lay 
between the Sea of Marmora and the line connecting Midia 
on the Black Sea with Enos on the JEgean. Crete was given 
to Greece. The status of the islands in the ^Egean and that 
of Albania were left for a later decision. 

Far more difficulty was experienced by the Allies in 
partitioning the estate of the "Sick Man of Europe" than 
in conquering him. A bitter quarrel arose as Division 
to the share of each. Bulgaria, who had ren- among the 

• • * Allies 

dered the greatest service during the war, 
demanded all of Macedonia as her prize: she had not for- 
gotten the Treaty of San Stefano. In this she was opposed 
by Greece, who insisted on retaining Saloniki; by Serbia, 



648 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

who, deprived of her conquests in Albania through Aus- 
trian intervention, wished part of Macedonia as compen- 
sation; and by Rumania, who desired a port on the Black 
Sea. 

A second Balkan war broke out in July, 1913, this time 
between Bulgaria and her erstwhile allies. Hostile armies 
The Second began to converge on Bulgaria from three direc- 
Balkan War ^ions, Serbians and Montenegrins from the 
west, Greeks from the south, and Rumanians from the 
north. Several battles were fought in which the Bulgari- 
ans were defeated. Frightful atrocities were committed on 
both sides, who now hated each other more than they hated 
the Turks. The latter, taking advantage of the dissensions 
among their foes, reopened hostilities and recaptured Adrian- 
ople from the Bulgarians. At the instance of Austria the 
Second Balkan War was brought to a close by the Treaty 
of Bucharest, which was concluded on August 10, 1913. 
Bulgaria was shorn of nearly all her conquests. The new 
arrangements provided for the following territorial changes : 
Greece got the largest share, Southern Macedonia including 
the rich prize of Saloniki; Serbia was almost doubled in 
size by getting a large part of Macedonia and half of the 
Sanjak of Novi Bazaar; Montenegro got the other half 
of the Sanjak; Bulgaria got part of Macedonia with a 
strip of the coast and Western Thrace, in all about ninety- 
six hundred square miles, which was considerably less than 
the gain of Greece or that of Serbia; Rumania got a strip 
on the Black Sea, ceded to her by Bulgaria. By the Treaty 
of Constantinople (September 29, 1913) between Turkey 
and Bulgaria, the former doubled the European territory 
left to her by the Treaty of London, as Adrianople and East- 
ern Thrace were given back to the Sultan. 

A most thorny problem in the new Balkan settlement was 
Albania. Both Serbia and Montenegro were ambitious to 
... . divide the province between them, but strenu- 

Albania , . . • , , \ 

ous objections were raised by Austria, who 
feared that the expansion of Serbia would permanently 
block her march to the JEgean, and by Italy, who was am- 



THE NEAR EASTERN QUESTION 649 

bitious to control the lands bordering on the Adriatic. A 
European crisis was almost precipitated by the Albanian 
Question, because Russia gave hearty support to her Slav 
kinsmen, and Germany to her ally, Austria. Finally, the 
Serbians were induced to evacuate Durazzo, and the Mon- 
tenegrins, Scutari; and Albania was organized as an in- 
dependent principality with William of Wied, a German 
prince, as ruler. 

The Balkan Wars solved the Near Eastern Question so 
far as Turkey was concerned. But they left behind a legacy 
of hatred and distrust which was to have mo- Evil out . 
mentous consequences for Europe. Bulgaria come of the 
cherished deep resentment against her neigh- 
bors for robbing her of the fruits of her victories over the 
Turks. Serbia saw her dream of a "Greater Serbia," with 
an outlet on the Adriatic, vanish because of Austria's in- 
terference; and she was so infuriated that, in revenge, she 
began a vigorous movement among the Slavs in Bosnia- 
Herzegovina to detach them from the Hapsburg allegiance. 1 
The dismemberment of Turkey brought out vividly con- 
ditions in the Dual Monarchy where, as in the Sultan's 
former domains, diverse nationalities were striving for in- 
dependence. The most serious consequence of all was the 
revival of Russia's interest in the Balkans. 2 She now came 
forward to aid her "little Slav brothers" against the Aus- 
trians, as, in former times, she had against the Turks. 

1 For further details, see p. 707. 2 See p. 706. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 
The New Industrial Revolution 

Toward the end of the nineteenth century there took 
place a new Industrial Revolution, the results of which 
Industry of were almost as startling as those of its pre- 
to-day decessor a century before. The application of 

science to industry through the extraordinary develop- 
ment of the chemical and physical sciences, the better 
organization of business enterprise through combination, 
the larger use of capital, and the opening up of new 
sources of raw material in Asia and Africa increased many 
fold the production of goods. Gigantic plants, equipped with 
scientific laboratories, worked by armies of laborers, and 
capitalized by millions of dollars brought together in 
syndicates and "trusts," displaced the small factories, or 
"mills," as they were still called. It is estimated that the 
average increase in the commerce of all the countries of 
Europe during the nineteenth century was over twelve 
hundred per cent. 

There was also a revolution in the means of transportation 
and communication. Instead of the small railways, often 
Th single track, connecting points at no great dis- 

" trunk" tance from one another, "trunk" lines were built 
with branches radiating to every part of the 
country. Transcontinental lines were put in operation, like 
the^ Southern Pacific, Northern Pacific, and Canadian 
Pacific, spanning the North American continent, and the 
Trans-Siberian, traversing Europe and Asia. The whole 
world is now covered with a network of railways, and the 
toot of the locomotive is heard in darkest Africa, on the 
plains of Asia, and in the deserts of Australia. Gigantic 
locomotives, pulling trains of seventy-five cars or going 
at a speed of over fifty miles an hour, took the place of the 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 651 

slow, old-fashioned locomotives that looked almost like toys 
alongside of the new ones. 

After 1880 steel began to displace iron in the building 
of ships." Huge ocean greyhounds now traverse the seas 
along definitely marked ocean highways and on The ocean 
regular schedule, carrying cargoes and passen- greyhounds 
gers to all parts of the world. A modern type of sea- 
going vessel is the Hamburg-American liner, Vaterland, 
which is 950 feet long, has a gross tonnage of 54,500, and is 
large enough to accommodate 4000 passengers in addition 
to a crew of 1100. She is propelled by four great "screws" 
and by the new type of marine engine called the "turbine," 
so that, when going at full speed, her propellers make more 
than one hundred and fifty revolutions a minute, which en- 
ables her ship to cross the Atlantic in less than six days. 

Telephones, telegraphs, and cables have multiplied so 
greatly that networks of wire are to be found almost every- 
where, above the surface of the earth and at the Wireless 
bottom of the sea. To-day localities, no matter tele s ra P h y 
how distant and obscure, are in immediate touch with all 
parts of the world. Chicago now reads in her morning paper 
about the events of the previous evening in Cairo, Pekin, 
or Cape Town. Something like a revolution in the meth- 
ods of communication occurred through the invention of 
wireless telegraphy by the Italo-Englishman, William Mar- 
coni. Communication by "wireless" is based on the trans- 
mission of electric wave currents through the air instead 
of through wires, which are received by an instrument 
called the "detector." Wireless telegraphy has rendered 
incalculable service by establishing communication between 
ships at' sea which enables them to send signals for help 
in case of distress. Vessels at sea are also in constant com- 
munication with land, so that daily newspapers printed on 
board give to the passengers the latest news. In 1907 
Marconi established a regular system of communication 
across the Atlantic by means of the "wireless." 

The production of coal and iron, the two pillars of mod- 
ern industry, was greatly increased through improved 



652 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

methods, new inventions, and the opening of many new 
Increase of mines. Up to the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
steel supply tur y E n gi anc j supplied most of the coal and iron 
needed for manufacturing; later, extensive coal fields were 
opened up all over the world, particularly in the United 
States and Germany. In 1878 a great improvement in the 
making of steel came through the Thomas process, which 
provided a method of removing the phosphorus from "pig 
iron," so that the poorest iron could be converted into ex- 
cellent steel. Extensive iron fields in Germany, France, and 
Belgium, hitherto neglected because the product contained 
too much phosphorus to be of much use, were now worked, 
and the steel supply of the world was greatly increased. 

A short, all-water passage to India, long the object of 
search on the part of navigators of the sixteenth century 
The Suez and never found, was made by the digging of the 
Canal Suez Canal (1859-69), which shortened by many 

miles the water route from the Atlantic to the Indian and 
Pacific Oceans. It contributed to the economic revival of 
lands along the Mediterranean, notably North Africa and 
Asia Minor, which had fallen into decay centuries before. 
Thousands of vessels laden with cargoes from the West and 
from the East pass through the Suez Canal. 1 The construc- 
tion of the Panama Canal (1904-14) has done a similar serv- 
ice for the Western World by providing a shorter passage 
between the Atlantic and the Pacific ports. 

The New Imperialism 

Up to the period of voyages and discoveries in the six- 
teenth century, the territorial ambitions of the Western 
Lack of in- nations were limited to seizing one another's 
onTafex- 001 " lands in Europe. The discovery of the New 
pansion World stimulated territorial rivalry in a new 

direction; and for two centuries Spaniards, Dutch, Por- 
tuguese, French, and English fought for the possession of 
the regions beyond the seas, with England finally triumph- 
ing over all her rivals. During the greater part of the nine- 

1 In 19 1 3 over five thousand vessels passed through the Canal. 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 653 

teenth century the passion for colonies was stilled. Those 
who had lost out in the struggle naturally lost interest in 
colonies; and even victorious England evinced only a 
casual interest in her Empire, for reasons which have al- 
ready been discussed. 1 - 

But a change came at the end of the nineteenth century. 
An extraordinary revival of colonial enthusiasm began 
that caused every European nation to make a Causes for 

r . , , , t 1 • ^ni 1 the colonial 

feverish scramble for colonies, lhe explanation revival, 
for the new attitude toward possessions is man- (*) E< 7°^ 

rnic: (a) Ex- 

lfold ; but it may be summed up under three port of goods 
main causes: the economic, the political, and the religious. 
The Industrial Revolution at the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century transformed the economic life of Western 
Europe only; the new Industrial Revolution at the end of 
the century caused Europe to burst her industrial bonds and 
to encompass the entire world in its influences. The new 
industrialism multiplied production so enormously that 
markets had to be sought outside of the limits of the home 
country. As competition for the home market within the 
leading industrial countries became very keen, the eyes 
of the captains of industry were naturally turned to the 
many regions that were at the same time densely populated 
and industrially undeveloped. The vast populations of 
Asia and Africa were so many potential customers for the 
business men of Europe. What fabulous profits awaited 
those who got the opportunity of clothing and shoeing the 
teeming millions of Chinese and Hindus! 

With the tremendous increase in the amount of business 
came an accumulation of capital seeking investment. The 
financing of home industries having reached (b) Export 
almost the point of saturation, capital had of ca P ltal 
either to remain idle or to find a new outlet. The solu- 
tion of this problem was most significant for world his- 
tory and led to a new phenomenon in the expansion of 
trade, the export of capital. Opportunities for investment 
were sought abroad, and surplus capital was exported to 

1 See p. 418. 



654 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

lands where lay untold wealth in the shape of undevel- 
oped resources. Concessions, or special privileges, were 
obtained from foreign Governments, usually through the 
active assistance and under the protection of the home 
Government, to build factories, construct bridges, open 
mines, lay down railways, or establish banks. The con- 
cessionnaires were drawn as if by magnets to the hidden 
and virgin sources of wealth, the rubber forests of South 
America, the gold and diamond mines of South Africa, the 
coal and iron of China, the copper of Morocco, and the oil 
of Persia and Mexico. 

The leading industrial nations found foreign dominions 
desirable either as colonies or as "spheres of influence," 
(c) Colo- because they opened new markets for surplus 
ofrawma^ 3 products and because they offered safe fields 
terials for the investment of surplus capital. A third 

economic factor entered to make colonies popular. The 
mother countries had capital and machinery, but they 
needed abundant raw materials to make their prosperity 
secure. Colonies appeared in the aspect of sources of raw 
materials; they were not only worth while, they were in- 
deed necessary. This was the revival of the old Mercan- 
tilist theory in a new form. In divers ways, by diplomacy, 
by secret understandings, by treaty rights, all of the 
leading countries in the world secured " spheres of influence " 
for their own capital and enterprise in which they could 
carry on the system of exploitation unhindered by their 
rivals. 

Political influences, no less than economic, were potent 
in shaping the new development. The intense nationalism 
(2) Patriotic wmcn grew up in Europe during the wars of 
motives for unification stimulated a desire for expansion. 
Germany and Italy, especially, were no longer 
content to see thousands of their people emigrate to foreign 
lands where they were lost to their mother country; like 
England, they desired to have colonies where their surplus 
population could settle and where they could maintain the 
language, institutions, traditions, and ideals of their home 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 655 

land. Defeated France sought solace for her wounds of 1870 
by acquiring a great colonial empire in Northern Africa 
in order to balance the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. The awak- 
ened feeling of pride in their world-wide Empire caused 
many Britons to rejoice in the spread of Anglo-Saxon 
ideals among the peoples of the world ; and there grew up 
among them a spirit of imperial patriotism unknown in 
previous times, which was fostered by prominent soldiers, 
statesmen, and writers. 

Human motives are strangely mixed. Along with the 
desire for new markets and new territory there was also 
the desire for new converts to the Christian faith. / s R e i;„; ous 
To many devout Christians the millions of motives for 
heathen in Asia and Africa were souls to be 
saved; and there began a missionary movement among 
both Catholics and Protestants which was an important 
cause in the expansion of Europe. Ever since the sixteenth 
century the Catholic Church had been sending missionaries 
to ail parts of the heathen world; and they had succeeded 
in converting to Catholicism most of the inhabitants of 
Latin America and of the Philippine Islands and in gaining 
many adherents in Japan, China, and India. In the nine- 
teenth century the Catholics made still greater efforts in 
the foreign missionary field through societies that conse- 
crated themselves to the propagation of the faith by collect- 
ing money and training missionaries for service among the 
heathen. For a long time the Protestants had neglected the 
missionary field; but quite early in the eighteenth century 
they had founded several societies for spreading the Gospel 
among the heathen. By the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
tury almost every Protestant denomination, both in Europe 
and in America, had active and devoted foreign mission- 
aries in almost every part of the world. 

The Christian missionaries were the advance guard of 
European civilization, for they established schools, colleges, 
and hospitals which disseminated the arts and sciences of 
the West. Their influence has been most beneficial, particu- 
larly among the savage peoples of Africa ; they gave them 



656 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE ; 

the rudiments of education, taught them orderly living, 
Influence of healed their sick, and induced them to abandon 
sionariesin such inhuman practices as cannibalism and hu- 
spreadmg man sacr ifi ce> Thousands of Japanese, Chinese, 
civilization and Hindus, by being converted to Christianity, 
were initiated into the civilization of the West, which they, 
in turn, imparted to their non-Christian countrymen. 
Occasionally missionaries, too zealous for the faith, violated 
cherished customs of the natives, which sometimes led to 
their being attacked and slain. These murders furnished 
grounds for intervention by the European nations, who, 
on the pretext of defending their citizens, seized ports and 
districts. In this way the blood of the martyrs sometimes 
became the seed of colonial empires. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the only 
parts of Asia that were known were India, Asia Minor, and 
the vast and desolate region called Siberia; China and Japan 
The Euro- were closed to the world. In Africa, Europe 
pean con- was acquainted with the northern and southern 
Asia and rims and an occasional trading-post along the 
A eastern and western shores; Central Africa was 

an unexplored continent. With the exploration of Eastern 
Asia and Central Africa during the second half of the nine- 
teenth century, there took place a race for colonies among 
the European Powers which led to the division of these 
regions into "spheres of influence," protectorates, and colo- 
nies. In an incredibly short time Europe, the smallest 
of the three continents in the Eastern Hemisphere, suc- 
ceeded in reducing the vast populations of the other two 
to her dominion. She had the energy, the machinery, the 
capital, and, above all, the military power with which to do 
it. On one pretext or another, European Powers would in- 
tervene in the affairs of those whose territory they desired ; 
sometimes, as in the case of Egypt, to safeguard loans made 
to corrupt native rulers by European financiers ; sometimes, 
as in Persia and Morocco, "to restore order" by putting 
down civil wars ; sometimes, as in Algiers, to avenge insults 
to the flag or to officials; sometimes, as in Africa, to take 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 657 

up the "white man's burden," that is, to spread European 
civilization; sometimes, as in China, to avenge the murder 
of missionaries. Intervention would be followed by mili- 
tary occupation, with promises to leave "as soon as order 
is restored"; then a protectorate would be declared over 
the region; and finally it would be annexed as a colony. We 
will now describe in detail what has been called the "Euro- 
peanization of the World." 

China 

From the point of view of size alone, China, with an area 
larger than Europe and with an estimated population of 
over three hundred million, is the most important civiliza- 
nation in the world. The Chinese have dwelt tion of the 

r . . . 1 1 r Chinese 

apart Irom the rest 01 the world tor many cen- 
turies, perfectly satisfied with their accomplishments in 
literature, art, science, and industry. Their silk manufac- 
tures, woven, colored, and designed with exquisite art, and 
their wonderful work in bronze, wood, lacquer, and ceram- 
ics, showed that they possessed the refinements of a highly 
civilized people. The Chinese also possessed in a rudimen- 
tary form such modern inventions as printing, gunpowder, 
and paper. But the great natural resources of the country, 
coal, iron, copper, and other metals, remained undeveloped 
till the advent of the Europeans. 

A slow, conservative, peaceful people, the Chinese were 
content to live in their simple way by agriculture, fishing, 
and the handicrafts. The merchant class was Their con- 
highly respected, and commercial honesty was servatlsm 
considered the supreme virtue. They had come to believe 
that their civilization had reached a height unattained by 
any other people ; hence what they wished above all was 
to maintain it uncontaminated by the rest of the world 
and to remain loyal to their immemorial customs and 
traditions. 

The government of the Celestial Empire, as the Chinese 
called their country, was in theory an absolute monarchy 
under the rule of the Son of Heaven, the Emperor. In real- 



658 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ity, however, it was an oligarchy composed of an office- 
The man- holding class called mandarins by the Europeans, 
danns Selection for public office was made only after 

rigid examinations in Chinese literature, history, and philos- 
ophy; and for centuries the content and method of these 
examinations had remained the same. As the Chinese lan- 
guage has no alphabet, different symbols are employed for 
different words; therefore, those who could write the most 
words had the best opportunity of passing the examination. 
During the middle of the seventeenth century China was 
conquered by a Tartar tribe called the Manchus, who dis- 
placed the native dynasty by one of their race. Most of 
the office-holding class thereafter were Manchus by race, 
and they were hated by the Chinese, who never ceased to 
regard them as foreigners. The queue, or pigtail, was in- 
troduced among the Chinese by the Manchus as a sign of 
submission. 

China was not a centralized empire, for the eighteen 
provinces under the sway of the Emperor enjoyed a con- 
D , siderable degree of home rule. China proper lies 

encies of in the valleys of the Yangtse-kiang and Hoang 
Ho rivers, where live the bulk of the teeming 
millions. Surrounding it are Manchuria and Mongolia in 
the north, Tibet in the south, and Sin-Kiang in the west, 
all large regions but sparsely inhabited. In these outlying 
states the Emperor was represented by viceroys, whose 
main function was not so much to govern as to collect 
tribute. Tibet was an almost independent state, as the in- 
habitants acknowledged the Dalai Lama, living at Lhassa, 
as their supreme religious and civil ruler. On the fringe 
of the Empire were Korea, Burmah, Siam, Cambodia, and 
Anam, who, though practically independent, acknowledged 
China as their suzerain. 

Europe's first knowledge of the Chinese came during the 

E , , thirteenth century as a result of the missionary 

vent of the efforts of the Franciscan friars and, more espe- 

uropeans c j a Uy ; f r0 m the accounts of the famous Venetian 

traveler, MarcO Polo, who sojourned for a number of 




I 1 trench Territory I I United States Territory 

•-^-^^^Railroacis --' Proposed Railroads 




Longitude East SO ' fro 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 659 

years in China, where he was highly esteemed by the 
Emperor. During the sixteenth century Portuguese mer- 
chants established a trading-post at Macao, near Canton. 
In the following century the Dutch established one on the 
Island of Formosa, and the British, one at Canton. These 
European traders were greatly harassed by the Chinese 
officials, who told them that China had no need of them or 
of their goods. They managed to stay on by bribing and 
cajoling the officials, but their property and even their 
lives were frequently in great danger. There was only one 
port, Canton, where Europeans were permitted to trade 
freely. So careful was China to keep out the "foreign 
devils" that her isolation lasted until well into the middle 
of the nineteenth century, when it was forcibly broken down 
by the European Powers. 

The first important step in the opening up of the Empire 
was the Opium War (1840-42). The Chinese had become 
addicted to a harmful drug called "opium," The Opium 
made from plants grown in India; and so wide- War 
spread was the havoc caused by its use that the importa- 
tion of the drug was forbidden. But the traffic was very 
profitable to British merchants, and it was smuggled in 
with the connivance of corrupt officials. The Chinese 
Government determined on vigorous action and seized and 
destroyed large quantities of opium. On account of this 
Great Britain waged war upon China and defeated her. 
China was compelled to sign a treaty, by which Amoy, 
Ningpo, Foochow, and Shanghai were made "treaty ports" 
open to European merchants; and the island of Hongkong 
was ceded to Great Britain, who in addition received an in- 
demnity of twenty-one million dollars. 

On pretexts that Christian missionaries were murdered 
or that their flag was insulted, the European Powers began 
a series of wars upon China with the object of Treaty of 
seizing her territory. In 1856 she was attacked Tientsin 
by Great Britain and France and was compelled by the 
Treaty of Tientsin (i860) to make further concessions: six 
more ports were opened to foreign traders; Christian mis- 



660 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

sionaries were to receive special protection ; and the traffic 
in opium was legalized. China again had to pay the cost of 
her defeat with another heavy indemnity. The Treaty of 
Tientsin opened the way for the negotiation of commercial 
treaties with the various European nations and America, 
and China was forced against her will to enter into rela- 
tions with the rest of the world. 

Great discontent spread among the people, who blamed 
the Government for allowing the "foreign devils" to enter 
The Taiping the Celestial Empire. Moreover, as the Manchu 
Rebellion dynasty was hated as foreign, a popular uprising, 
known as the Taiping Rebellion, began in 1853 and spread 
all over China. For a time the dynasty was in serious dan- 
ger of being ousted. In 1861 Tze-hsi, the famous Dowager 
Empress, came into power. She exercised a great influ- 
ence over the affairs of the Empire, first as Regent and later 
as Empress, to the day of her death in 1908. With her was 
associated Li Hung Chang, the most famous statesman 
of modern China. They succeeded in crushing the Taiping 
Rebellion, largely through the aid of the English soldier, 
Charles ("Chinese") Gordon, who led the Imperial troops 
against the rebels. 

During the second half of the nineteenth century Europe 
became increasingly aggressive toward China. The Powers 
European wer e no longer content merely to seize ports; 
aggression they now began to annex whole provinces. By 
the treaties of 1858 and i860 Russia annexed 
the coast district south of the Amur River. In 1885 France 
gained control of Anam and Tonkin, which, together with 
Cambodia taken in 1863, form French Indo-China. Bur- 
mah, a dependency of China, fell to England in 1885. 

Japan now took a hand in the game. She felt that if 
China was to be dismembered, she should assist in the proc- 

War be- ess anc ^ so £ a * n ^ er snare - Japan was especially 
tween China eager to get Korea, a tributary kingdom of 
japai China; and with this end in view she began to 
interfere in Korean affairs, greatly to the anger of the 
Chinese. The outcome was the Chino-Japanese War of 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 661 

1894 in which the Chinese, greatly to their surprise, were 
badly beaten by the Europeanized Japanese, whom they 
had regarded with contempt as "dwarfs" and "upstarts." 
According to the Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed in 1895, 
Japan received the Island of Formosa and the Liao-tung 
Peninsula, and Korea was henceforth to recognize the 
suzerainty of Japan. China was furthermore compelled to 
grant important commercial privileges and to pay an in- 
demnity of about one hundred and fifty-eight million dol- 
lars to the victor. The success of Japan aroused the envy of 
the Western Powers, particularly that of Russia, who saw 
her path to an ice-free port blocked by the Japanese acqui- 
sition of the Liao-tung Peninsula, in which was situated the 
great seaport, Port Arthur. A coalition was formed, com- 
posed of Russia, France, and Germany who, declaring their 
intention to be the maintenance of the integrity of China, 
compelled Japan to relinquish all her conquests except For- 
mosa in return for an additional indemnity from China 
of twenty-three million, seven hundred thousand dollars. 

The coalition then began to reap the benefits of Japan's 
victory by seizing portions of China for themselves. On 
the plea of avenging the murder of two German European 

missionaries, Germany, in 1898, seized the valu- nations be- 

. gin to dis- 

able harbor of Kiao-chau, which was then splen- member 

didly fortified and became the center of German ina 
interests in the Far East. During the same year France 
acquired the valuable bay of Kwang-chow-wan. England, 
not to be outdone, seized Wei-hai-wei. Russia profited most 
from Japan's victory; to her fell Manchuria and the Liao- 
tung Peninsula. The Powers then proceeded to divide China 
into economic "spheres of influence," the capitalists of each 
nation concerned to have a monopoly of the concessions 
to be granted by the Chinese Government in the sphere 
allotted to that particular country. British capitalists were 
to exploit the valley of the Yangtse-kiang : French, the pro- 
vince of Kwang-tung; German, the province of Shan-tung; 
Russian and Japanese, the regions in the north. 

European investors came among the Chinese and began 



662 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to transform the life of this ancient people. Railways and 
„ ., factories were built; mines were opened; modern 

Railways ..... 

steamers began to appear alongside the pictur- 
esque "junks"; the telegraph and telephone were installed. 
Modern scientific progress was, however, not at all to the 
liking of the conservative Chinese. Railways, especially, 
were regarded as a desecrating innovation, because the 
lines were sometimes built across graveyards, which 
aroused popular fury against those who violated the sanc- 
tity of ancestral tombs. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that a widespread revolt 
soon began against the "foreign devils." A powerful 
m „ secret society was formed, called the "Order of 

The Boxers . . . 

the Patriotic and Harmonious rists, or more 
popularly, "Boxers," whose members strongly desired to 
rid their country of the foreigners who were "lacerating 
China like tigers" and who were violating the cherished 
and immemorial traditions of the Chinese people. During 
1 899-1 900 anti-foreign outbreaks took place, and many 
missionaries and traders lost their lives. The Europeans 
living in Pekin fled for shelter to their legations, which 
were thereupon besieged by mobs. So great was the anti- 
foreign fury that the German Ambassador was murdered 
in the street. It was known that the Dowager Empress was 
in sympathy with the "Boxers" and that her officials were 
secretly aiding them; hence the Powers decided to send an 
expeditionary force to relieve the legations. An interna- 
tional army, composed of European, Japanese, and Ameri- 
can troops, invaded China, captured the capital, Pekin, 
and relieved the legations. In revenge for the uprising the 
European troops committed frightful outrages against the 
Chinese, killing many people and looting palaces and tem- 
ples, which cast great discredit upon the Christian nations. 
China was forced to pay an indemnity of three hundred 
and twenty million dollars and to suppress all anti-foreign 
societies. 

After her defeat by Japan, China began to take more 
kindly to European ways, and there began a reform move- 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 663 

ment which aimed to Europeanize China as Japan had 
been. The leaders in this movement were The awaken- 
mainly young men who had studied abroad, ing of Chma 
and who had become convinced that, unless their country 
adopted the sciences and arts of the West, she would fall 
a prey to the foreigners. Young China found that its 
greatest obstacle was the Dowager Empress, who resisted the 
introduction of reforms and hounded the reformers out of 
the country. But she was finally forced to follow its lead, 
and there began an "awakening of China" at the beginning 
of the twentieth century which astonished the entire world. 
In 1905 a decree was issued abolishing the ancient system 
of education which prepared men for the public service, 
and establishing a modern one in which modern history, 
European languages, economics, and political science were 
the subjects taught. In the enthusiasm for the new learn- 
ing, ancient temples were converted into modern schools 
and colleges on the Western model. In 1906 another decree 
declared that the growth, sale, and consumption of opium 
must cease within ten years. This prohibition law has been 
vigorously enforced by the Government. 

But the reformers, under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen, 
a young physician who had become an enthusiastic ad- 
mirer of Western culture, would not rest until The Chinese 
China was completely modernized on the most Revolutlon 
approved European and American plans. They wanted 
China to become a democratic republic, and they con- 
tinued their agitation against the Manchu dynasty. In 
191 1 a revolution broke out, led by Young China and backed 
by the army, which had been reorganized on European 
lines. A Republic was proclaimed with Sun Yat-sen as pro- 
visional President. On February 12, 1912, the Manchu 
dynasty formally abdicated, after having reigned for nearly 
three hundred years. The adoption of a republican con- 
stitution presented great difficulties because of the many 
complex problems, both domestic and foreign, which con- 
fronted the Chinese people. They called upon Professor 
Frank J. Goodnow, a distinguished American authority on 



664 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

political science and constitutional law, to advise them. 
Control fell into the hands of a conservative element, 
led by Yuan Shih-kai who, though a former monarchist, 
now favored the reform movement. He was elected Presi- 
dent in 1 91 3 for a term of five years. Before long he found 
himself in conflict with the National Assembly, called to 
draft a constitution, because of his desire for almost auto- 
cratic powers. On his own initiative President Yuan Shih- 
kai made important changes in the government, virtually 
giving him the power of a dictator. He also negotiated the 
famous Five-Power Loan of one hundred and twenty-five 
million dollars from Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, 
and Japan. Great opposition to the President's course was 
shown by the radical republicans, and they organized a 
series of uprisings against him which he managed to sup- 
press. Yuan Shih-kai died in 1916, and he was succeeded 
by Vice-President Li Yuan-hung, who was regarded as 
more republican in his tendencies than his predecessor. 

Japan 

The history of Japan during* the nineteenth century has 
filled the world with wonder' and admiration. In the pe- 
Rise of riod of about one generation an isolated, almost 

Japan unknown country, whose inhabitants were re- 

garded by Europeans merely as charming little people, beau- 
tifully dressed in colored gowns, with pretty manners and 
artistic tastes, rose to be a great Power, whose friendship 
was eagerly sought by the European nations. 

Japan consists of four large islands and many small 
ones situated off the coast of China. In territory she is 
Contrast be- somewhat smaller than California, but she 
cTineseand nas a population of about fifty-two million. 
Japanese Although closely allied to the Chinese in race 
and in civilization, the Japanese differ from them in tem- 
perament. The Chinese are a rather stolid, phlegmatic 
people, whereas the Japanese are lively, quick-witted, and 
possess great powers of adaptation. In spite of their small 
stature the Japanese have been a warlike people, and mar- 
tial virtues are held in great esteem among them. 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 665 

The first Europeans to visit Japan were some Portuguese 
navigators who, in 1542, chanced to come to the islands. 
A few years later, St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit Advent of 
missionary, came to convert the inhabitants. He th e Euro- 
and his followers were welcomed by the Japa- 
nese, and they succeeded in gaining many converts to the 
Catholic Church. But the anti-foreign feeling became 
strong, and the Christians were accused of conspiring against 
the Government in the interest of Europeans. A bitter 
persecution followed, and thousands of converts were put to 
death. By the end of the sixteenth century Christianity in 
Japan had almost entirely disappeared. The Government 
now determined on a rigid policy of isolation; foreigners 
and foreign goods were excluded, and the profession of 
Christianity was made a capital offense. 

Japan remained in a state of seclusion for two centuries 
more. She was opened to the world in 1853 by the famous 
visit of an American fleet under Commodore V ; s ; t oi 
Perry, who came with orders to demand of Commodore 
Japan that she give shelter to American sailors 
wrecked on her coasts and allow American vessels to pro- 
vision and to trade in some of her ports. A treaty embodying 
these demands was signed a year later by the American 
and Japanese Governments. In 1858 Townsend Harris, the 
first American representative to Japan, negotiated a treaty 
establishing regular commercial relations between the two 
countries. 

The system of government and society then existing in 
Japan resembled that of Western Europe during the Middle 
Ages. The mass of people were serfs on the es- Feudalism 
tates of a military aristocracy called the daimios, m J a P an 
who governed their districts and conducted private war 
against one another very much in the fashion of the feudal 
nobility of Europe. Over these lords was the Emperor, 
called the Mikado who, in theory, was the absolute mon- 
arch of Japan, but who, in practice, had little if any author- 
ity. Whatever real power existed over the daimios was 
exercised by an official called the Shogun, who was to the 



666 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Mikado what the Mayor of the Palace was to the Merovin- 
gian Kings of France. The treaties mentioned above were 
negotiated by the Shogun. 

During 1863-64 Japanese towns were bombarded by Euro- 
pean warships in retaliation for outrages committed against 
Transfor- • Europeans. This made a great impression on 
mationof leaders of the country, who beheld in gunnery 

Japan into . ■" 

a modern a superior force which was bound to conquer 
their country unless she adopted the arts and 
sciences of the West. A group of ardent young reformers 
took the lead in the Europeanization of Japan; and, in 1867, 
there began a revolution unparalleled in modern times. In 
one generation the public and private life of the Japanese 
people was almost completely transformed. Hundreds of 
young Japanese became students in the schools and colleges 
of Europe and America with the main purpose of bring- 
ing Western knowledge to their native land. Commissions 
were sent abroad to study the institutions of the West and 
to recommend the adoption of the best that the various 
nations had to offer. Foreigners were welcomed and treated 
with consideration ; and many were employed by the Gov- 
ernment to instruct the natives in the arts of the West. 

As a consequence there began the wholesale introduc- 
tion of Western institutions in this Eastern land. Young 
Abolition of J a P an keenly realized that the first step must 
the Shogun- be the abolition of feudalism, with its division 
of the people into castes and clans, and the 
union of the people in one national whole. With this end 
in view, the Shogun was compelled to resign (1867), and 
the Mikado, Mutsuhito, then only fifteen years old, became 
actual as well as theoretical ruler; for it was the intention 
of the reformers to unify the people through the Emperor. 
Mutsuhito's reign, which ended with his death in 1912, 
is justly celebrated in Japanese annals as the "Enlightened 
Rule." In 1871 an Imperial decree abolished feudalism. 
Most of the daimios voluntarily surrendered their privileges, 
but some rose in rebellion against the decree. Serfdom was 
abolished and the peasants became tenants or proprietors 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 667 

of the lands which they tilled. A great blow at the caste 
system was struck by the organization of a national army, 
for it deprived the warrior caste, the samurai, of their mili- 
tary privileges. The administration of the Government was 
highly centralized in order to give greater power to the 
nation. In 1889 a constitution was promulgated which trans- 
formed Japan into a parliamentary monarchy: a bicameral 
legislature was organized, with an aristocratic upper House 
and a popular lower House. The Cabinet, however, was 
made responsible to the Mikado who, in reality, was but 
a screen for an influential group of nobles known as the 
"Elder Statesmen," the powers behind the throne. A civil 
and criminal code was adopted, based upon the French 
and the German systems of law. The army was reorganized 
on the German model and the navy on the British. A public 
school system was introduced, copied to some extent from 
that of America. 

The Industrial Revolution was even more potent in the 
transformation of Japan than enlightened Imperial de- 
crees. Japan has many excellent harbors, cheap, i ntroc i uc . 
intelligent labor, and a fairly good supply of tion of mod- 
coal and iron, which facilitated the introduction 
of the factory system. Machine-made goods displaced the 
artistic products of the handicrafts. 1 Railways and steam 
navigation made extraordinary progress. 2 Japanese foreign 
trade, as a consequence, increased rapidly. 3 

The new Japan that emerged as a result of these 
changes was a nation of alert, ambitious, efficient people, 
thoroughly familiar with modern progress and Spirit of 
animated by a patriotism almost religious in ex P anslon 
character. Primarily, Japan assimilated Western civiliza- 
tion in order to protect herself against Western encroach- 
ment; but, once in possession of the new arts and sciences, 

1 In 1912 there were 8710 factories run by motors. The cotton industry 
entirely new in Japan, operated in 1914 over 2,400,000 spindles. 

2 In 1872 Japan had eighteen miles of railway; in 1912, over six thousand 
miles, nearly all State-owned. Her steam tonnage in 1912 was 1,500,000, which 
was greater than that of France. 

3 In 1877 the foreign commerce of Japan was valued at $25,000,000; in 1913, 
at $680,000,000. 



668 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

she became aggressive like the Western nations. Her large 
population demanded an outlet; her active capitalists wanted 
concessions; and her imperially minded statesmen wanted 
to spread Japanese influence over larger areas. Near-by 
Korea and China offered a fair field for these ambitions. 

The war with China in 1894 showed the mettle of the 
Japanese army, as the Chinese giant was easily overthrown 
Russia tries by the Japanese dwarf. When the fruits of her 
Japan^ex- victory were seized by Russia, Japan clearly 
pansion realized that there was bound to be a contest be- 

tween herself and the latter for the mastery of the Pacific. 
Russia's designs upon Manchuria became obvious when her 
troops and settlers began to pour into the province, and 
her promises to leave became more and more evasive. Port 
Arthur was splendidly fortified and connected by a branch 
railway with the Trans-Siberian. After Manchuria and the 
Liao-tung Peninsula, it would be Korea's turn, and the 
way to Japan's expansion would be effectively blocked. 

Like the Prussians in 1866, the Japanese began to make 
careful preparations for the coming war with Russia. The 
p . army and navy were enlarged and organized on 

for war with a most efficient basis, and munitions of war of 
the latest and best patterns were assembled in 
large quantities. Thus prepared, Japan was ready to chal- 
lenge the great military power of the West who, though 
immensely superior to her in men and resources, was yet 
seriously handicapped by the fact that the scene of conflict 
was over three thousand miles from her base of supplies. 
The single-track Trans-Siberian Railway was the only 
means of transporting Russian troops and supplies to the 
posts on the Pacific. 

The immediate cause of the war was the refusal of Russia 
to give a definite date when she would withdraw from 
Opening of Manchuria. Hostilities began in February, 1904. 
hostilities j£ was £ ne p r j mar y intention of the Japanese to 
drive the Russians out of the Liao-tung Peninsula, where 
they had large armies under General Kuropatkin, the Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Russian forces in the East. Two 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 669 

Japanese armies invaded the peninsula. One, under General 
Kuroki, marched north to Korea and routed a Russian 
army in a battle on the banks of the Yalu River; another, 
under General Oku, landed in the southern part of the 
Liao-tung Peninsula, just north of Port Arthur, defeated a 
Russian army at the Battle of Nanshan, and cut off the 
communications of the fortress with the Russian armies 
in Manchuria. 

A concentrated attack upon the large Russian forces 
stationed at Liao-yang and at Mukden, north of the 
Liao-tung Peninsula, was the next plan. It was The Battle 
brilliantly executed by several Japanese armies of Mukden 
under the supreme command of Marshal Oyama. A series 
of engagements followed, culminating in the terrific battle 
around Mukden in which each side had about three hundred 
thousand men engaged, and which lasted from February 25 
to March 10, 1905. The Russians, under General Kuropat- 
kin, were routed and compelled to beat a demoralizing re- 
treat, with a loss of about one hundred thousand men ; the 
victorious Japanese lost only half that number. 

Early in the war the Japanese made several attempts to 
take Port Arthur by storm, but they proved costly failures. 
Siege was then laid to the fortress by General Capture of 
Nogi, who defeated several armies that came to Port Arthur 
relieve it. After a siege of ten months, the horrors of which 
rivaled those of the famous siege of Paris during the Franco- 
Prussian War, the commander of the fortress, General 
Stoessel, surrendered with an army of forty thousand men 
on January 2, 1905. It cost the Japanese about sixty thou- 
sand in killed and wounded to capture Port Arthur. 

Japan's victories on the sea were no less decisive than 
those on land. At the outset there were two large Russian 
fleets in Eastern waters, one at Port Arthur and Destruction 
the other at Vladivostok. The first was "bottled of the Rus- 

,, r • t 1 • 1 1 sian fleets 

up for a time; but later it was almost entirely 
destroyed by Admiral Togo, on August 10, 1904; the second 
was seriously damaged and defeated in the battle of August 
14. Russia made a last attempt to retrieve her misfortunes 



670 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

by dispatching a fleet of thirty-five warships under Ad- 
miral Rodjestvensky. It reached the Sea of Japan and 
was almost entirely annihilated by Admiral Togo in the 
Straits of Tsushima on May 27, 1905. 

Both combatants were now tired of the war and eager for 
peace; Russia, because of her defeats, and Japan, because 
Peace of of the enormous expense that her victories en- 
Portsmouth tai i ed upon hen At the SU gg est i on f Theodore 

Roosevelt, President of the United States, representatives 
of both combatants met in the United States at Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire, where they signed a treaty of peace on 
September 5, 1905. According to its terms Manchuria was 
to be evacuated by both Russia and Japan; the lease of the 
Liao-tung Peninsula, including Port Arthur, was to be 
given to Japan, who was also to have paramount influence 
in Korea; Russia was also to cede the southern half of the 
Island of Sakhalin. No indemnity was paid by either side. 
In 1910, greatly to the indignation of the Koreans, their 
country was annexed to Japan and renamed Chosen. 

The overwhelming defeat of Russia, long regarded as a 
formidable military power, by "an Asiatic people just out 
Effects of °f Oriental seclusion, astounded the world. Ja- 
japan's vie- p an leaped forward as 0113 of the great Powers 
China and and as the dominant influence in the Far East, 
on Europe j^ er v j c t or y was an important factor in the 

"awakening of China," who realized that Orientals, if armed 
and trained like Europeans, could fight as effectively as 
they. A wave of discontent with European rule, which, up 
to this time, had been accepted as inevitable, began to 
spread throughout the East. The West was disturbed by 
the dread of what was termed the "Yellow Peril," the fear 
that the millions of the yellow race, inspired and led by 
Japan, might start a world war against the whites. 

Great Britain was the first to welcome Japan into the 
»„. , ranks of the Great Powers. In 1902 a treaty 

Alliance of . • , . ■ 

Japan and of friendship had been signed by the two 

ngan island nations; in 1905 this compact was greatly 

strengthened by a treaty of alliance. The latter provided for 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 671 

(i) the preservation of peace in Eastern Asia and India; 
(2) the maintenance of the integrity of China and of the 
principle of the "open door"; and (3) the defense of the 
territorial rights of each party in Eastern Asia and India. 
This treaty, which was renewed in 191 1, gave Japan a free 
hand in the Far East, so far as England was concerned, in 
return for Japan's promise to safeguard British rule in 
India. 

No sooner was the Russo-Japanese War over than there 
began a rapprochement between the two erstwhile enemies. 
The friendly understanding ripened in 191 6 into Japan's de- 
a treaty of alliance. Both recognized that their si gns upon 
interests in the Far East could be best promoted 
by cooperation instead of by war. This boded ill for China, 
which was the special object of Japan's ambitions. In 19 15, 
evidently with Russia's consent, Japan made five demands 
upon China, the most important of which were that she 
grant special commercial privileges to Japanese capitalists 
and that she engage Japanese to advise her in political, 
financial, and military matters. China protested against 
these demands as an infringement upon her sovereignty; 
but she was forced to accept some of them. The most 
important, that concerning Japanese advisers, was with- 
drawn in deference to the protest of the United States, who 
came forward as China's champion. On November 2, 191 7, 
an important agreement was entered into between Japan 
and the United States in reference to China. Both Powers 
pledged themselves to respect the territorial integrity and 
independence of China and to maintain the principle of the 
" open door" in reference to China. But the United States 
recognized that Japan had special interests in China, " par- 
ticularly in the part to which her possessions are con- 
tiguous." 

Expansion of Russia 

The defeat of Russia in the Crimean War marked the 
beginning of a new era in her history. Foiled in the attempt 
to get to the Mediterranean by conquering Constantinople, 



672 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Russia turned her face to the East in the hope of getting 
Foundation an ice-free port on the Pacific. China was com- 
ofVladi- pelled, in i860, to cede to Russia the region 
north of the Amur River and a stretch of terri- 
tory on the Pacific running to the south of that river and 
facing Japan. Vladivostok, ice-free for nine months in the 
year, was founded on the southern extremity of the coast. 

The newly acquired region attracted many settlers from 
Russia. After the abolition of serfdom peasants poured into 
Settlement ^e fertile Amur Valley, where they were given 
of the Amur liberal grants of land by the Government in the 
hope of establishing a large Russian population 
in Eastern Asia. To facilitate this immigration the Trans- 
Siberian Railway was built, which would at the same time 
serve as a connecting link between Russia in Asia and 
Russia in Europe. This was at first the main object in 
building the Trans-Siberian ; later, when Russian ambitions 
in the Far East became all important, the railway became 
primarily a military highway over which to transport troops 
for the conquest of new territory. From the terminus, 
Vladivostok, Russia was to expand southward into a warmer 
climate and a richer land. 

She turned her eyes to the Chinese province of Man- 
churia, to the peninsula of Liao-tung, and to Korea, the 
Manchuria peninsula-kingdom of Eastern Asia. Russian 
Sao-tung diplomacy for a time became all-powerful in 
Peninsula Pekin. A Russo-Chinese bank was established, 
which lent large sums of money to the Chinese Govern- 
ment; in return Russia was granted special privileges in 
Manchuria, across which she built the Trans-Siberian 
Railway. Russian troops were sent into Manchuria, but 
with the promise that they would remain only till "lasting 
order shall have been established." In 1898 Russia obtained 
from China a lease of the Liao-tung Peninsula for a period 
of twenty-five years, across which a railway was built to 
connect the Trans-Siberian with Port Arthur. In this place 
she secured an ice-free port and "a window on the Pacific." 
At last her century-old search for an outlet on the warmer 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 673 

seas was rewarded; but her satisfaction was destined to be 
short-lived, for, as we have already seen, the war with 
Japan blasted her hopes on the Pacific. 

During the nineteenth century Russia was expanding 
southward as well as eastward, with the idea of reaching the 
warm waters of the Indian Ocean. She succeeded Turkestan 
in conquering the half-civilized, nomadic tribes and Afghan- 
in Turkestan and in annexing the Caspian region. 
Until the beginning of the twentieth century Russia was 
regarded by England as her chief enemy in Western Asia; 
a struggle between these two Powers for the possession of 
India was deemed not unlikely. The tribes living in Afghan- 
istan and Baluchistan, on the border of India, were contin- 
ually giving trouble to the British, due, it was said, to the 
secret aid and encouragement of Russian agents. But the 
building of the Suez Canal made it possible for the British 
navy to maintain the line of communication with India, and 
England was freed from the fear of Russian designs. In 1907 
an agreement between England and Russia recognized Af- 
ghanistan as a buffer state, which practically ended Russia's 
hopes of conquering India. Again Russia was foiled but not 
discouraged ; she now shifted her gaze to the Persian Gulf. 

Between Russian territory and the Persian Gulf lies 
Persia which, like China, is the home of an old but unpro- 
gressive civilization, and therefore likely to be The Persian 
an easy prey for the Western Powers. In 1902 Revolutlon 
Russia secured special privileges for her merchants and 
capitalists to build railways and factories in Persia, and 
there began the "peaceful penetration" of this ancient 
land by a European Power. The Persian Government was 
weak and corrupt and was soon in the financial toils of 
European bankers. A revolution against the Shah, or ruler, 
broke out among the people, led by a party called the 
Nationalists, who demanded a constitution and reform. In 
1906 the Shah was compelled to call a Mejliss, or Parlia- 
ment, to which was entrusted the control of the finances. 
But he remained strongly opposed to parliamentary govern- 
ment, and a civil war broke out between the Absolutists 



674 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

and the Nationalists, the former receiving the secret sup- 
port of Russia. 

The outcome of the Russo-Japanese War had taught 
Russia that the best way of expanding in Asia was by 
Partition of cooperating with the Power most interested in 
Persia a particular region. In Western Asia this was 

England. On August 31, 1907, a treaty was signed be- 
tween England and Russia, according to which they agreed 
"to settle by mutual agreement the different questions con- 
cerning the interests of their States on the continent of 
Asia." Afghanistan, as we have just seen, was made a buffer 
state, but the important matter to be settled was Persia, 
which was divided into three "spheres of influence," the 
northern to be exploited by Russian capitalists, the south- 
ern, by British, and the central to be free to both. This 
economic partition of their country aroused the Persians to 
fury. In 1909 the Shah was deposed, and his son, Ahmed 
Mirza, a child of eleven, was placed on the throne. Two 
years later the Persian Parliament selected an American, 
W. Morgan Shuster, as financial adviser to the Govern- 
ment. Mr. Shuster was deeply interested in the welfare of 
the Persian people. He saw clearly that financial reform 
was the first step to their political independence, because 
it would enable them to get out of the toils of the European 
bankers. Mr. Shuster set about with great energy and 
ability, and with the full support of Parliament, to put the 
Persian finances on a sound basis. He encountered the de- 
termined opposition of Russia and England, who feared 
that if Persia put her house in order it would deprive 
them of a pretext for intervention. Accordingly, Russia de- 
manded that Mr. Shuster be dismissed and that another 
financial adviser, one having her approval and that of Eng- 
land, be appointed. Too weak to resist, Persia was forced 
to yield; Mr. Shuster was dismissed, and the finances were 
taken in charge by Russia and Great Britain. Persia could 
no longer be called an independent State; for, being in the 
economic grip of these Powers, she was not really in a posi- 
tion to conduct her own policies. 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 675 

Africa 

Although of immense size, three times that of Europe, 
Africa is the least developed of the six continents. Her back- 
wardness may, in part, be ascribed to geographic Africa a 
conditions. Her coast line is unindented, and closed con- 
therefore it contains but few harbors, to the 
detriment of her communication with the outside world; 
furthermore, tall mountain ranges, stretching in a chain 
around the outer rim of the continent, hinder communica- 
tion between the coast and the interior. Conditions in the 
latter have prevented the development of a high civiliza- 
tion. Almost the entire north is a barren desert; the center 
is excessively hot and wet; and the south is a vast, almost 
rainless, plateau. The great rivers that traverse the conti- 
nent have, until lately, been unnavigable, because they 
are broken by rapids and falls. It is no wonder, then, that 
Africa remained the "dark continent" until recently and 
that most of its inhabitants were savage tribes living amid 
primitive conditions. 

The northern rim, being more indented and facing the 
Mediterranean, has had a wholly different history from 
the rest of the continent. It was well known in Northern 
earliest times; and some parts, like Egypt and Afnca 
Carthage, are famous in the history of civilization. During 
the seventh and eighth centuries North Africa was over- 
run by Mohammedans from Asia Minor, who converted 
the inhabitants to their faith. Arab missionaries, traders, 
and slave-hunters spread along the eastern coast, where 
they established trading-posts. 

At the end of the fifteenth century the Portuguese navi- 
gators, Diaz and Vasco da Gama, rounded the southern 
coast of Africa. The Portuguese established coming of 
trading-centers at various points along the coast, the Euro- 
where they did a profitable business in ivory, pec 
gold, slaves, gum, and rubber. Before long merchants of 
other nations, Dutch, British, and French, established sim- 
ilar stations. For several centuries Africa was regarded by 



676 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Europeans mainly as a source of supply for the slave trade, 
and nearly every nation was engaged in this inhuman, 
though profitable, traffic. Expeditions were regularly organ- 
ized to kidnap the black inhabitants, and thousands were 
annually seized by brutal men, packed into the holds of 
ships, and transported to the New World to be sold as 
slaves on the plantations. Except by the Dutch in South 
Africa, 1 no attempt was made to establish white settlements 
on this continent for many years because of its inhospitable 
climate. 

The situation in Africa at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century was as follows: In the north, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, 
Africa at an d Algeria were theoretically parts of the Ot- 
the begin- toman Empire and under the suzerainty of the 

ning of the r . . 

nineteenth Sultan; practically, however, they were inde- 
pendent communities under tribal chiefs. Mo- 
rocco was independent under its own Sultan. In the south, 
Cape Colony, settled during the previous century by the 
Dutch, passed to Great Britain in 1814. At various points 
along the coast, particularly at the mouths of rivers, there 
were European trading-posts. The interior was entirely 
unknown. 

Scientific curiosity and missionary zeal were aroused by 
the wonderful tales that traders and adventurers brought 
^ . v . back from Africa. They told of strange animals 

Curiosity in . 

regard to and still stranger human beings, and of trackless 
forests containing unusual flora. At one time 
slavery had been justified by some Christians on the ground 
that if the negro lost his body, he at any rate saved his soul 
by becoming a Christian. During the first half of the nine- 
teenth century the slave trade was abolished by the Euro- 
pean countries, and the , African coast was patrolled by 
warships to prevent the continuance of the traffic. Indi- 
rectly the abolition of the slave trade acted as a stimulus to 
missionary effort, for zealous Christians went to Africa to 
convert the heathen blacks, who were now no longer being 
brought to Christian lands. 

1 See p. 413. 



NORTH 



at la s ti c / MADE1RA ,8.,^, I*p^ ^^ate^^SSr 

/ AeBdi/JJKb 'Tttrii'diict T»l»rt/V / »' Ool«»» '•■ v< fPlnJ»iii(« 




20° Longitude Weal 10° /com Greenwich 0° Longitude East 10° 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 677 

The greatest name associated with the exploration of 
"Darkest Africa," as the interior was called, is that of the 
Scotch explorer-missionary, David Livingstone. T . . 

• T-1-1 Livingstone 

In 1840 he was sent to Africa by an English 
Protestant missionary society, but he soon became far 
more interested in exploration than in converting the 
heathen. Until his death, in 1873, Livingstone was almost 
continuously engaged in African exploration ; and he showed 
great bravery and resourcefulness in meeting unknown 
dangers and in solving difficult problems. He discovered 
the Zambesi River, the Upper Congo, and Lake Nyassa, 
the regions around which he opened up to the world. 

At one time nothing was heard of Livingstone for several 
years, and it was feared that he was dead or lost in the 
heart of Africa. To find him, another exploring _ 

111 tt -rt^ Stanley 

expedition, led by Henry M. Stanley, was sent 
out by the New York Herald as a journalistic enterprise. 
Stanley wrote a book, Through the Dark Continent, in which 
he described his adventurous trip and how he found Liv- 
ingstone. This book had a great vogue throughout the 
world and greatly stimulated the desire to open up the 
continent to European influences. Stanley's contribution 
to African exploration was almost as notable as that of 
Livingstone. During 1874-78 he journeyed across the con- 
tinent from Lakes Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika, ex- 
plored the Congo and its various tributaries, and finally 
reached the Atlantic coast. Other explorers followed these 
pioneers, and the map of Africa, hitherto largely blank, 
began to show rivers, lakes, mountains, and plateaus. 

Great interest was now felt by the European nations in 
the future of Africa. Here was a new continent, inhabited 
by weak, savage tribes, who could offer no effec- The Congo 
tive resistance to organized conquest. In a very Free State 
short time almost the whole of Africa was partitioned among 
the various nations of Europe. The first to take up the 
matter was the shrewd King of the Belgians, Leopold II, 
who, in 1876, called a conference of the Powers at Brussels, 
where he formed the "International Association for the 



678 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Exploration and Civilization of Africa." A group of Bel- 
gian capitalists, backed by the King, formed a corporation 
known as the "International Association of the Congo," 
whose ostensible object was to Christianize and civilize the 
Africans. To this body was given complete control of the 
region of the Congo. Its rights were recognized by a con- 
ference of the Powers in 1884-85, held at Berlin, with the 
proviso that the " open door," or equality of trading with 
the region, was to be guaranteed to all nations. It was 
organized as the Congo Free State, with Leopold as chief 
proprietor and ruler. The region proved to be rich in rub- 
ber and yielded large profits to the investors who, in spite 
of the "open door," exercised a complete monopoly in ex- 
ploiting the country. The government was administered 
solely in the interest of the stockholders, and the natives 
were reduced to virtual slavery. To make them collect as 
much rubber as possible they were subjected to cruel treat- 
ment, to whipping, torture, and death. The Congo out- 
rages finally became an international scandal and aroused 
the indignation of the world, which led to the adoption of 
reforms. In 1908 the Congo Free State became a colony 
of Belgium, subject to the rule of the Belgian Parliament 
and not to that of the King. 

During the decade 1 890-1 900 there began the "Great 
African Hunt," as the European scramble for colonies was 
Partition of called. The rights of the natives were totally 
Africa disregarded in a series of treaties among the 

Powers in which they carved Africa into colonies and 
"spheres of influence." According to an agreement, no 
annexation of territory in Africa was to be made by any 
European nation without a notification to all the others. 

Great Britain got the lion's share, about one third of the 
entire continent. In the north, she possesses Egypt; in the 
east, the Sudan, Uganda, British East Africa, 
and British Somaliland ; in the south, Rhodesia, 
Bechuanaland, and the Union of South Africa; in the west, 
Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the mouth of 
the Gambia River. 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 679 

Germany made her debut as a colonizing nation in the 
partitioning of Africa. She became very energetic in sending 
out explorers and traders to lay claims to ter- 
ritory. In the east she secured German East 
Africa, wedged in between the British possessions on the 
north and south; in the west, German South-West Africa, 
Kamerun, and Togo. On the whole, German possessions in 
Africa, although large, were inferior to those of England or 
France, because they were climatically unsuited to white 
settlement. The Germans have had serious trouble with the 
natives, who refused to work on the plantations and who 
resented the harsh treatment by the officials. An uprising 
of the warlike Herero tribes in German South-West Africa 
took place in 1903, and it was suppressed with great diffi- 
culty and at great expense. Two years later an uprising in 
German East Africa threatened for a time to overwhelm 
the German forces, but this, too, was finally put down with 
great bloodshed. 1 

Italy had acquired Eritrea, a region along the coast of 
the Red Sea, and Italian Somaliland. She was, however, 
ambitious to possess Abyssinia, a large district . 
situated between these two possessions. But 
the Abyssinians are a warlike race in a state of semi-civiliza- 
tion, with a fairly well organized government, and not help- 
less savages like the negroes. Their Negus, or ruler, named 
Menelek, inflicted a severe defeat on the Italian army at 
the Battle of Adowa, in 1896, and Italy was compelled to 
recognize the independence of Abyssinia, which to-day is 
the only independent State of any importance in Africa. 
Disappointed at the annexation of Tunis by France and 
by the Abyssinian misadventure, Italy turned her eyes 
toward the Turkish - provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenaica, 
which she determined to annex at the first opportunity. 
This came in 191 1, soon after the revolution in Turkey, 2 
and an Italian army invaded the region, where it en- 
countered more opposition from the Arab tribesmen than 

1 For a discussion of the colonial question in Germany see p. 313. 

2 See p. 643. 



680 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

from the Sultan's troops. Turkey was obliged to cede 
Tripoli and Cyrenaica to Italy, who renamed the country 
Libya. Except along the coast, Libya is largely a desert and 
sparsely inhabited. 

Portugal has large and profitable colonies in Portuguese 
East Africa, Angola, and Portuguese Guinea, which produce 
Portugal and gold, ivory, and rubber. To Spain has fallen the 
Spam smallest share, as she possesses only Northern 

Morocco, Rio de Oro, and Rio Muni, strips of coast along 
the Atlantic. 

In point of area the French possessions in Africa are 
the largest of any nation, but they include the Sahara, a 
^ vast desert. In the east, France owns French 

France . . 

Somaliland, a strategic point at the exit of the 
Red Sea, and the large island of Madagascar, which was 
conquered in 1894; in the west, French Equatorial Africa, 
Dahomey, Ivory Coast, French Guinea, and Senegal. Her 
most important possessions, however, are in the north, 
Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco. 

A keen rivalry between England and France began for 
the control of the Sudan, which culminated in the famous 
The" Fasho- " Fashoda incident" of 1898. A French exploring 
da incident" expedition, under the command of Captain 
Marchand, entered the valley of the upper Nile and planted 
the French flag at Fashoda, a "mud flat," greatly to the 
anger of the British, who dispatched a force from Khartum 
to drive them out. Feeling rose high in both countries and, 
for a time, it looked like war between them. But matters 
quieted down as a result of concessions on both sides. The 
French retired from Fashoda, but they were allowed to 
annex Wadai, thus connecting their northern with their 
western possessions. The "Fashoda incident" was the 
starting-point of the close relations between England and 
France which culminated in the Entente cordiale. 1 In 1904 
they agreed by treaty to support each other in African 
affairs. France acquiesced in the formal annexation of 
Egypt by England, and the latter agreed to allow France a 
free hand in Morocco. 

1 See p. 691. 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 681 

France has succeeded in establishing a colonial empire 
in Northern Africa rivaling the one she possessed in Amer- 
ica back in the eighteenth century. The begin- France ac- 
ning was made in 1830, when a punitive expedi- g"r?a and 
tion was sent into Algiers because the Dey, or Tunis 
native ruler, had insulted a French official. Algiers was 
occupied and, in spite of many uprisings on the part of the 
native tribes, the French managed to conquer and to annex 
the country. In 188 1 a French army from Algeria marched 
into Tunis and took possession, ignoring the rights of the Bey 
and of his suzerain, the Sultan of Turkey. Indignant pro- 
tests came from Italy, who, because of the large Italian 
population in Tunis, had hoped to annex the region herself. 

French ambitions now turned toward Morocco, which 
was considered a promising place for European occupation. 
It has a good soil and a mild climate, possesses 
several fine harbors, and is rich in iron, copper, 
and other metals. The country is inhabited by about five 
million people for the most part in the tribal stage of 
civilization. Tribal wars have been frequent; and the 
country became notorious because of the great disorder 
that prevailed there. Attacks upon the lives and property 
of the European traders, who came to exploit the region, 
have also been of frequent occurrence. 

France, being a neighbor in Algiers, cast covetous eyes 
on this promising region. Attacks upon French citizens 
by the Moroccan tribes gave her the pretext for Struggle of 
sending punitive expeditions. From that to cSmanjTfbr 
"peaceful penetration" through concessions by Morocco 
the native chiefs was a short step. But Germany, too, had 
cast covetous eyes on Morocco, which was the only desirable 
part of Africa not yet occupied by a European Power. A 
struggle followed between France and Germany for the 
possession of this region, which several times threatened 
to result in a general European war. But France finally 
triumphed over Germany and, in 1912, Morocco was 
formally declared a French protectorate. 1 

1 For a more detailed narrative of the Morocco question see pp. 700 ff. 



682 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Results of Imperialism 

Not all the expectations of the enthusiastic advocates of 
expansion were realized. The colonial trade of Germany 
Colonial was insignificant, though the expense of main- 
trade a small taining the colonies was very great. France has 
ternational been more successful; but she, too, has had to 
make up annually a large colonial deficit. Eng- 
land has more to justify her imperialism than any other 
country, for she has a large and growing colonial trade ; but 
her important customers are Germany, France, and the 
United States, and not Canada, Australia, or South Africa. 

The colonies have not proved successful in drawing off 
the surplus population of the mother countries. Because 
Compara- they were not attractive to white settlement, 
emigrated ver y ^ ew Germans went to the German colonies, 
the colonies But many went to the British possessions and 
to the United States. French colonies, although near the 
mother country, contain few Frenchmen besides military 
and civil officials. The immigration of Italians to Libya 
has hardly justified Italy's "war for a desert." Even 
Great Britain, with a large surplus population and colonies 
in every climate, has failed to people the Empire with her 
children. During 1870-1905, a generation which saw the 
high tide of imperialism, six and a half million emigrated 
from the United Kingdom; of these, only two million 
settled in the colonies, whereas four million went to Amer- 
ica and half a million to other places. So reluctant are the 
English masses to go to the colonies that societies have 
been organized to encourage them to emigrate there. 

In spite of the enthusiasm and devotion of hundreds of 
Christian missionaries, only a small insignificant fraction of 
Missionaries the heathen millions have embraced Christianity. 
wr/theTea- China, India, Japan, and Africa, still overwhelm-, 
then world ingly non-Christian, are likely long to remain so. 

There is one element in the new imperialism that has 
proved eminently successful, namely, the investment of 
surplus, capital. Enormous fortunes have been made by 



THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE 683 

those who invested money in the development of backward 
lands. The success of these ventures is due success of 
partly to the fact that foreign investments are, f° rei g n in - 

, , , , _ vestments 

in many cases, guaranteed by the home Govern- 
ment, but mainly to the power of armies and navies to 
force modern economic life on backward races. These 
methods have been defended on the ground that progress 
is accelerated among those peoples who otherwise would 
have to go through the slow stages of evolution ; and thus 
the entire world is likely to be brought to the same high 
level of progress in a comparatively short time. Other argu- 
ments advanced in favor of economic imperialism are that 
capital not needed at home finds profitable employment 
abroad, and that labor at home also reaps benefits. An Eng- 
lish company, for example, securing a contract to build a 
railroad in China, usually stipulates that the equipment 
be made in England, thus stimulating home industry. 

The critics of imperialism reply that foreign investments 
have the effect of draining a country of its capital, as 
investors prefer to send their money abroad criticism 
because of the inducement of greater profit. of economic 
A capitalist prefers to establish a factory in 
China, with the prospect of earning twenty-five per cent 
profit, to improving one in Lancashire which earns only 
ten per cent. These critics, furthermore, declare that eco- 
nomic imperialism, which benefits only a small group of 
investors, threatens grave danger to the entire nation; for 
in the struggle to acquire colonies the nations are drawn 
into quarrels which may lead to war. Frequently, also, the 
nation has to intervene in the affairs of those countries 
that have no strongly organized governments capable of 
maintaining order, to protect the lives and property of 
her investing nationals. There has consequently grown up 
a strong feeling in the world that economic imperialism 
contains grave dangers for the peace of mankind, and that 
a new international attitude should be adopted toward 
foreign investments, which would at the same time protect 
these investments and preserve the peace of the world. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

1870-1914 

The Triple Alliance 

The system of international relations established by the 
Congress of Vienna was completely shattered by the events 
rr, of 1870. Two great Powers came into existence, 

The new . 

diplomatic Germany and Italy, which necessitated a re- 
arrangement of the European system; and the 
new diplomatic structure that was erected was based, like 
the old one, on the principle of the balance of power. For- 
merly it was France, now it was Germany, who was feared 
as a possible disturber of the peace of Europe. 

For twenty years after 1870 the leading figure in inter- 
national affairs was Bismarck, who dominated the policies 
Th Th °^ Europe as completely as Metternich had dur- 

Emperors' ing the first half of the nineteenth century. It 
was Bismarck's aim to organize an alliance of 
powerful nations, pledged to the maintenance of the sta- 
tus quo as fixed by the events of 1870. With this in view, 
he formed, in 1872, the Dreikaiserbund (Three Emperors' 
League), consisting of Germany, Austria, and Russia, who 
agreed to act in concert in matters affecting territorial 
changes in Europe, especially in the Near East, and to sup- 
press revolutionary uprisings in their lands. This was to be 
a new Holy Alliance, as great fear was inspired at the time 
by the socialistic movement known as the " International." 1 

Although the Congress of Berlin (1878) was called prima- 
rily for the purpose of settling the Near Eastern Question, 
The Triple it became the starting-point of new alliances 
Alliance anc j counter-alliances which shaped European 
diplomacy for an entire generation. At this convention 
the antagonism between Russia and Austria, which origi- 

1 See p. 586. 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 685 

nated during the Crimean War, was greatly intensified by 
the clash of their interests in the Balkan settlement. 1 Bis- 
marck's support of Austria so angered Russia that she 
withdrew from the Dreikaiserbund, thus causing its dissolu- 
tion. Austria and Germany drew more closely together and, 
in 1879, they formed a new alliance, each promising to assist 
the other in case of an attack by Russia and to adopt an 
attitude of benevolent neutrality in case of an attack by 
any other Power. Bismarck, however, was anxious to keep 
on good terms with Russia, whose hostility he feared be- 
cause of Germany's exposed eastern frontier. He succeeded 
in making a compact with the Tsar, known as the Reinsur- 
ance Treaty, which, it was understood, effectually guaran- 
teed Russian neutrality should Germany be attacked. In 
1882 Italy joined Germany and Austria, thus forming the 
famous Triple Alliance, which was renewed at regular in- 
tervals. A solid block of Central European Powers was 
facing France, who was now isolated ; this was exactly what 
Bismarck desired. 

The strength of the Triple Alliance lay in the common 
interests that bound Germany and Austria. The latter, 
driven from Italy by Sardinia and from Ger- Common 
many by Prussia, sought to find compensation Germany 
by expanding in the Balkans. A policy, known as and Austria 
the Drang nach Osten (Movement to the East), was inau- 
gurated by Austria, with the object of getting a port on 
the JEgean Sea. In the way were Serbia and Montenegro, 
who could count on the assistance of Russia to oppose 
the extension of Austrian influence among the Slav States 
of the Peninsula; hence Austria leaned heavily on Ger- 
many, without whose backing she could make no headway 
in the Drang nach Osten. Germany at first entered the 
alliance primarily as a protection against a war of revenge 
by France; but later, when she embarked on a vigorous 
policy in the Near East, 2 she found Austria's assistance 
of great value to her. There was also a common fear of 
Pan-Slavism, particularly in Austria-Hungary, where nearly 

1 See p. 634. 2 See p. 642. 



686 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

half of the population is Slavic. Should a national move- 
ment start among these Slavs and be encouraged by Russia, 
the integrity of the Hapsburg dominions would be endan- 
gered. The destruction of her ally would leave Germany 
the only Teutonic Power in Europe, faced by hostile France 
in the West, and by a possibly hostile Russia in the East. 
To guarantee the integrity of the Dual Monarchy became 
a matter of enlightened self-interest on the part of Ger- 
many, and she loyally supported Austria in her struggle 
with the Slavs, both inside and outside of her dominions. 

The weak spot in the Triple Alliance was Italy, who had 
joined the Teutonic Powers because of her resentment 
Italy and against France for annexing Tunis. 1 It was 
the Alliance unnatural for Italy to be leagued with Austria, 
her hereditary enemy, from whom she hoped some day to 
wrest the Italian-speaking regions, Trieste and Trentino. 
Both nations, moreover, were rivals in Albania and for the 
control of the Adriatic. The staggering cost of armament 
demanded by the Triple Alliance bore heavily on Italy 
who, being a poor country, could not carry the burden as 
easily as her rich allies. Should her differences with France 
be composed and her desire for expansion be appeased, 
Italy's adherence to the Alliance would become uncertain. 

The Dual Alliance 

Bismarck's astute diplomacy left France isolated for al- 
most two decades following the Franco- Prussian War. The 
France seeks ^ ee ^ n § s °f revenge and fear agitated the French : 
an alliance revenge for wounds inflicted by that war and 

with Russia r r r . r^ • r> 

tear 01 future German aggression. Every year 
saw an increase in German wealth, power, and population, 
so that a conflict between France and Germany would end 
in the certain defeat of the former, whose population re- 
mained almost stationary. To save herself from such a 
calamity, the Third Republic sought an alliance with 
Russia, whose teeming millions and geographical situation 
on Germany's flank would make her a most desirable ally. 

1 See p. 681. 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 687 

Russia, although rich in natural resources, had little capital ; 
whereas France possessed capital in abundance and was will- 
ing to lend it freely in return for an alliance. The building 
of the Trans-Siberian Railway by the Russian Government 
necessitated the floating of large loans, to which French 
capitalists subscribed heavily. Many private enterprises 
in Russia were also financed by French investors. 

Every year saw a coming together of these two nations, 
though they had fought each other bitterly during the 
Napoleonic wars and though they differed so The Dual 
markedly in ideals, the one a revolutionary Alliance con- 

, ,. , . , . summated 

republic and the other a reactionary autocracy. 
Friendly relations between them were signalized by visits 
exchanged between the Tsar and the President. A French 
fleet, visiting Cronstadt in 1891, was welcomed with great 
ceremony by Tsar Alexander III, who listened with bowed 
head to the strains of the Marseillaise. During the same 
.year a treaty was signed between Russia and France, the 
terms of which were secret ; but it was generally understood 
that they were to act in common in international matters. 
This Dual Alliance, officially confirmed in 1895, gave great 
joy to France. No longer isolated, she could now breathe 
more easily. Germany's diplomatic hegemony was conse- 
quently seriously shaken, greatly to the chagrin of Bismarck 
who, from his retirement, made sarcastic comments on the 
diplomacy of Emperor William II. 

Rivalry between England and Germany 

During the Franco-Prussian War England's sympathy 
had been with Germany. Throughout the period of Bis- 
marck's chancellorship friendly relations be- Friendly 
tween the two countries continued, in spite of relations 

between 

the fact that the English people had little liking Germany 
for the autocratic regime in Germany, so con- duringl^is" 
trary to their own traditions of liberal govern- marck's 
ment. Bismarck took pains to cultivate the 
friendship of England. One of the reasons for his disin- 
clination to embark on a colonial policy was that it would 



688 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

arouse the hostility of the British. So long as Germany 
remained a land Power, England had no cause to be 
alarmed; for, in Bismarck's phrase, there could be no war 
between a " land rat" and a "water rat." 

With the accession of Emperor William II there came a 
profound change in Germany's foreign policies. Her ex- 
Economic panding trade, rapid increase in population, and 
rivalry be- exuberant energy were seeking an outlet, and 

tween Ger- t . r . 

many and she became exceedingly eager for a place in 
ngan the sun," or the possession of a colonial empire. 

Having come into existence long after the most desirable 
portions of the world had been annexed, she possessed only 
a few colonies, and these were in the poor parts of Africa. 
There was only one way that Germany could now expand, 
and that was at the expense of the great colonial Powers 
like England and France. 

The passion for colonies was especially strong among 
the industrial and Junker classes. To the former, colonies 
„, , ,. ., meant sources of raw material for their factories 

Weltpohkk 

and a field of investment for their surplus cap- 
ital; to the latter, they meant opportunities for military 
activity and for positions as governors over subject peoples. 
These classes had sufficient influence to cause Germany to 
abandon Bismarck's cautious policy of "satiation," and to 
embark upon an aggressive policy of Weltpolitik, the object 
of which was to win for Germany a dominant position in 
world affairs. This was emphatically expressed by the Em- 
peror when he said: "Without Germany and the German 
Emperor no important step in international matters should 
be taken, even beyond the seas." 

Germany's new attitude soon brought her into hostile 
relations with England. The latter, with rich lands in 
Rivalry be- every part of the globe, aroused the jealousy of 
landand ng " Germany, who felt that, with her efficiency and 
Germany military power, she could govern distant lands 
far better than England. The latter she believed was now 
a decadent nation living on the fruits of her great past. 
Commercial rivalry, between the two nations also caused 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 689 

constant irritation, as in almost every market of the world 
the supremacy of the long-established English trade was 
being challenged by German merchants. 1 

The first sign of ill-feeling between Germany and Eng- 
land was the "Kruger telegram." In 1896 Emperor William 
sent a telegram of congratulations to President The Kruger 
Kruger of the South African Republic on the tele g ram - 
occasion of his victory over the Jameson raiders. This 
caused a furor in England, where it was regarded as a 
sign of German hostility to the British Empire. During the 
Boer War the Germans sympathized with the Boers and 
denounced Great Britain as a bully for making war on the 
little Republics. This increased still more the already ex- 
isting ill-feeling between the two peoples. In England the 
pro-Boer attitude of Germany was interpreted to mean 
not sympathy for the Boers, but hostility to the British. 

But this unfriendliness might have passed away in time 
had it not been for the famous German navy law of 
1900, 2 which England regarded as a direct chal- German 
lenge to her position as mistress of the seas. A " avy la ^ 

° \ arouses tLng- 

veritable panic reigned in Great Britain for a land 
decade on account of the rapid increase of the German 
navy, in spite of the constant assurances that it was purely 
for defensive purposes, that is, to protect German shipping 
in case of war. England's very existence depends upon her 
control of the seas, as nearly all of her food supply comes 
from abroad and the best part of her trade is with foreign 
nations. Should she be successfully blockaded, starvation 
and ruin would immediately stare her in the face. For this 
reason she has been obliged to maintain the " two-Power 
standard," or a fleet equal in strength to any two other 
fleets. 

Under stress of German rivalry the British navy was 
almost completely reorganized at the beginning of the 
twentieth century. A new type of monster war- Naval 
ship, the Dreadnought, was constructed, which nvalr y 
became the model of the highest type of warship for all the 

1 See p. 369. • 2 See p. 312. 



690 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

navies of the world. Rivalry in naval armaments between 
England and Germany continued fast and furiously. This 
was so expensive to both nations that, several times, the 
British Government suggested a "naval holiday," or an 
agreement with Germany to keep down the rate of increase. 
But the latter refused to accept this plan, for the reason 
that it would still leave England in command of the sea, 
which she evidently hoped to wrest in the course of time. 

The Diplomatic Revolution 

Ever since the Crimean War England had been pursuing 
a policy of "splendid isolation" by refusing to ally her- 
England self with any other nation. On account of her 
from her powerful fleet and insular position, she felt safe 
isolation from attack. But the challenge from across the 
North Sea awakened her to the grave danger that lay in 
a Germany, already supreme on land, energetically striv- 
ing for supremacy at sea. England thereupon decided to 
emerge from her isolation. This brought about so great a 
change in international relations that it might well be called 
a diplomatic revolution. During the decade 1897-1907, 
century-old enemies became friends and allies, and the 
balance of power as established by the Congress of Berlin 
was completely upset. 

In order to understand this fully it is necessary to go 
back to the last decade of the nineteenth century. This 
Strained period witnessed an intense rivalry between 
relations England and France in Northern Africa and be- 
England and tween England and Russia in Central Asia. 
France Gabriel Hanotaux, who became the French 

Foreign Minister in 1894, was hostile to the English occu- 
pation of Egypt. French policies became so anti-English 
that a rapprochement with Germany became possible, 
greatly to the delight of Emperor William, who began to 
flatter the French in the hope that they would forget the 
revanche, or the reconquest of Alsace-Lorraine. Lord Salis- 
bury, who then directed British affairs, was distinctly hos- 
tile to France, and he once referred to the Latins as "dying 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 691 

nations." His attitude toward Germany was, on the con- 
trary, quite friendly ; he signed treaties with her delimiting 
English and German possessions in Africa, and he showed 
in many other ways his friendliness for the Teutons. The 
strained relations between England and France, led them to 
the very verge of war in the famous Fashoda Affair of 1898. 1 

During the same year there came to the French Foreign 
Office a remarkable diplomat, Theophile Delcasse, who 
remained in control of his country's foreign Delcasse 
policies till his retirement in 1905. Delcasse Entente cor- 
was decidedly opposed to a rapprochement with diale 
Germany, and he enthusiastically favored establishing 
friendly relations, and even an alliance, with England. 
Once the latter, with her enormous sea power, was on the 
side of the Dual Alliance, Germany's position would be 
seriously weakened. With this in view, he settled the 
Fashoda Affair satisfactorily to England, who now, out of 
fear of Germany, was willing to join her historic enemy, 
France. The armies of France and Russia would balance 
the armies of the Triple Alliance, while England's navy 
would more than balance that of the latter. Friendly rela- 
tions between France and England were marked by visits 
of King Edward VII to Paris and of President Loubet 
to London. Delcasse's efforts were crowned with success 
in the treaty of 1904, which settled all disputes between 
the two nations in Northern Africa. There followed what 
was called an entente cordiale, or amicable agreement, be- 
tween the French and English Governments, which had 
all the practical effects of a close alliance, although no 
treaty was signed so binding them. The ancient feud was 
now at an end, to the great joy of both nations. 

Delcasse was convinced that Northern Africa was the 
natural field for French expansion on account France es- 
of its proximity, and he determined to come good rela- 
to a friendly agreement with Italy and Spain, l ^ s ^j 1 
the other Mediterranean Powers. In 1898 a Spain 
commercial treaty was signed between France and Italy 

1 See p. 680. 



692 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

which put an end to the tariff war between them. An under- 
standing was later reached that Italy would be allowed a 
free hand in Tripoli, provided she relinquished all claim to 
Tunis. Friendly relations were now resumed between the 
two Latin nations after a generation of estrangement, and 
Italy's adherence to the Triple Alliance was, as a conse- 
quence, considerably shaken. Between France and Spain 
friendship was established by a treaty in 1904, which de- 
fined their spheres of influence in Morocco. 

Equally remarkable was the great change effected in 
the relations between Great Britain and Russia. During 
Relations the whole of the nineteenth century the hos- 
Eneland tility between these two Powers was intense, 
and Russia because England was continually blocking Rus- 
sia's march to Constantinople. After the Russo-Turkish 
War of 1877 Russia sought to revenge herself upon Eng- 
land by threatening India. She began a secret propaganda 
against England among the tribes in Afghanistan and 
Baluchistan, with the object of getting their aid in case 
she determined to make a descent upon India. Great indig- 
nation was felt in England at these machinations. Russia 
was characterized by Kipling as "a bear that walks like a 
man"; and Joseph Chamberlain declared in a warning 
speech to his countrymen that "he who sups with the devil 
must use a long spoon." 

With the advent of Sir Edward Grey to the British 
Foreign Office in 1905, there came a reversal of the English 
attitude toward her rival in Central Asia. Fear of Ger- 
many had driven England to friendship with France; it 
was now driving her to friendship with Russia. This new 
policy culminated in the famous treaty of 1907, x which 
settled all differences between the two Powers in Central 
Asia and consequently removed all causes of friction be- 
tween them. England, now joined to France and to Russia, 
transformed the Dual Alliance into the Triple Entente, or 
friendly understanding among the three nations. Ger- 
many was furious at what she called the Einkreisungs 

1 See p. 674. 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 693 

politik (encirclement policy) of her enemies, for the dip- 
lomatic revolution resulted in her being almost entirely 
surrounded by unfriendly Powers. Europe was now di- 
vided into two great coalitions, the Triple Alliance and the 
Triple Entente, who were facing each other threateningly; 
should a dispute arise which involved any member of 
either combination, a world conflagration undoubtedly 
would be precipitated. 

The Peace Movement 

Ever since the Congress of Vienna there had grown up 
an idea, very dim, it is true, of a union of all the nations 
for common action in matters affecting world The Concert 
politics. This union was known as the " Concert of Euro P e 
of Europe," and it pledged the various Powers to maintain 
peace, to protect the independence of states and to ob- 
serve agreements faithfully. Two aspects of the Concert 
were the Holy Alliance, and the Quadruple Alliance, which 
have already been described. 1 

Discord, however, soon appeared among the five great 
Powers, England, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, 
who really constituted the Concert, although, The Dec i ar . 
in theory, it included all the nations of Europe, ation of 
Conflicting interests and ideals, rival ambitions, 
and jealousies, frequently brought them into hostile rela- 
tions, resulting in the wars of the nineteenth century. Yet 
the idea of union persisted; and the Concert performed 
notable services for humanity. At the Congress of Vienna 
it declared the slave trade abolished and dispatched war- 
ships to capture slavers. At the Congress of Paris, in 
1856, 2 it issued the document known as the "Declaration of 
Paris," which gave protection to neutral trade in time 
of war. This Declaration established the following rules: 
(1) privateering was abolished; (2) a neutral flag was to 
cover enemy goods except contraband of war; (3) neutral 
goods, except contraband of war, were not liable to capture 
under the enemy flag, and (4) blockades, to be binding, 

1 See pp. 20 ff. 2 See p. 631. 



694 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

must be effective, that is, they must be maintained by a 
force sufficient to prevent access to the enemy's coast. 

Another great service performed by the Concert was 
the adoption of rules intended to humanize warfare. By 
The Geneva the Geneva Convention of 1864 the nations 
Convention Dounc i themselves to treat as neutral, hence not 
subject to attack, the hospital corps and equipment of 
every army. To carry out this Convention, societies, 
known as the "Red Cross," because their symbol was an 
international flag, a white field with a red cross, were 
organized in every country. Their headquarters was es- 
tablished at Geneva, in honor of Switzerland, who origi- 
nated the idea. 

After 1870 the Concert, now consisting of Great Britain, 
Germany, Russia, France, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, 
The Con- began to reassert its interest in the Near East- 
N Ft a E d t he ern Q ues tio n > which had played a part in the 
em Ques- proceedings of the Congress of Vienna. At the 
Congress of Berlin the principle was accepted 
that the settlement of this question was a matter for all 
Europe, and the Concert endeavored to force the Sultan 
to treat his Christian subjects with consideration; but it 
failed because of the rival ambitions of the Powers. This 
failure caused the Concert to fall into temporary disrepute. 
The new partition of Turkey after the Balkan Wars of 
1912-13 was, however, largely the work of the Concert. 
It was also active in Africa, when it organized the Congo 
Free State and when it tried to settle the Morocco Ques- 
tion at the Algeciras Conference. In the Far East it sent 
an international force to suppress the Boxer uprising in 
China. 

These instances of international cooperation for the wel- 
fare of mankind did not result in the formation of an "in- 
Failure of ternational state," with supreme authority over 
the Concert tfie various nations. Whatever was achieved 
came mainly as an outcome of bargains and compromises 
among the Powers, each of whom was seeking primarily 
to advance its own interests and, only secondarily, the 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 695 

general good. At the beginning of the twentieth century 
the fundamental principle of European politics was still 
national rivalry, not international comity. 

In a previous chapter, 1 we have learned how the Indus- 
trial Revolution resulted in creating many bonds of union 
among the peoples of the world. There is hardly i nterna . 
a field of human endeavor which has not an in- tional or- 
ternational organization that holds international gai 
congresses from time to time. Questions affecting religion, 
labor, race, woman, war, peace, science, and education have 
all, at various times, been the subject of discussion at in- 
ternational gatherings. It is estimated that about two 
thousand such meetings took place between 1840 and 1910. 
There has existed an international political party, the So- 
cialist, which held international conventions to determine 
upon a common policy for the socialists throughout the 
world. To some extent there has grown up a kind of inter- 
national government, as represented by the Universal Tele- 
graph Union, which formulates the rules for the use of the 
telegraph, and by the Universal Postal Union, which is 
an agreement among the nations regarding postal rates. 
The metric system has been adopted by nearly all the 
European countries, and patent and copyright laws are 
now also to a large degree international. 

The Franco- Prussian War ushered into the world an en- 
tirely new military system. Hitherto, the defenses of a 
country consisted of a small standing army, Universal 
composed of mercenaries and volunteers, and military 
of a popular militia, for the purpose of repel- 
ling invasion. In the event of war, the army was increased 
by drafting men, generally those from the lower classes, 
into military service. As we have already seen, 2 a new 
principle was adopted by Prussia during the Napoleonic 
wars, namely, universal military service, or conscription, 
which makes it the duty of every citizen to render mili- 
tary service in time of peace as well as in time of war. 
Citizens, under this system, are required to devote several 

1 See p. 42. 2 See p. 173. 



696 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

years wholly to training in the army. Conscription was 
crowned with success in the triumphs of Prussia over Aus- 
tria in 1866 and over France in 1870 and, consequently, 
it was soon adopted by nearly every nation. Europe was 
turned into a huge military camp. England alone, of the 
Great Powers, did not introduce the new system because, 
being an island, she could best be protected by the large 
fleet which she assiduously maintained. 

Almost as important as universal conscription was the 
great change that took place in armament through the 
A Hcati n application of science to war. The simple rifle 
of science and cannon of former days, which almost any 
one could learn to use, gave place to highly 
complicated machinery of destruction, the handling of which 
required expert technical knowledge on the part of men 
trained for the purpose. A modern army is a highly scien- 
tific organism, demanding a great and varied knowledge of 
the sciences, such as chemistry, physics, mathematics, and 
sanitation, for its efficient management. Generals are no 
longer the dashing figures of old, gallantly leading charges 
against the enemy, but highly trained technical experts 
in the art of modern war. The part of the common soldier 
is more simple now than it was in former days; he has 
become a cog in a great and complicated machine, the 
smooth running of which is essential to success. What 
the new military system demanded was a large number of 
men ready to spring into place and a small body of highly 
trained officers to lead. Hence "preparedness" was neces- 
sary, as an army of raw volunteers, no matter how brave 
and patriotic, would be no match for troops trained in the 
manner described above. To maintain a large standing 
army and, especially, to provide for its equipment, proved 
enormously expensive. But the nations, regarding it as an 
insurance against the greater evil of war, decided to bear 
the great burden of an " armed peace." 

From time immemorial there has been a dream of uni- 
versal peace. Isaiah, prophet of ancient Israel, looked for- 
ward to the day when swords would be beaten into plough- 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 697 

shares and spears into pruning-hooks. The very essence of 
Christianity is universal brotherhood, and Christ i^ ea \ s f 
has been depicted as the "Prince of Peace" universal 
bringing "peace on earth and good will toward 
men." Proposals for universal peace have at various times 
been suggested by Henry IV, King of France, Grotius, the 
father of international law, Kant, the father of modern 
philosophy, and by many other distinguished men. But 
no serious attention was paid to such projects till the end 
of the nineteenth century, when the burden of taxation nec- 
essary to maintain the "armed peace" 1 aroused so much 
discontent, that practical statesmen and rulers began to 
consider seriously the possibility of universal disarmament 
or, at least, the reduction of armaments. 

A widespread peace movement made its appearance. 
Numerous societies in every country began a popular agi- 
tation to substitute arbitration for war as a The peace 
mode of settling disputes between nations. movement 
Large sums of money were donated to the cause of peace. 
International peace congresses were held regularly; and 
at Bern, Switzerland, a permanent peace headquarters was 
established. Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dyna- 
mite, left part of his large fortune to be awarded in annual 
prizes to those of any nation who render the greatest serv- 
ice to science, to idealistic literature, and to the cause of 
peace. The Scotch-American iron-master, Andrew Carne- 
gie, spent large sums in furthering the peace propaganda. 
In 1908 there appeared a book entitled The Future of 
War, by a Polish Jew, Ivan S. Bloch, which created a 
deep impression at the time. The author tried to prove 
that war under modern conditions was impossible; for 
it must lead to universal bankruptcy and starvation and 
be followed by revolutions. Another remarkable peace 
book was The Great Illusion, written by an English- 
man, Norman Angell, who argued that modern social and 
economic conditions make military victories and defeats 

1 For the year 1914-15 Germany appropriated about $407,000,000 for her 
army and navy; England, $404,000,000; France, $326,000,000. 



698 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

"illusions," because the essential economic life of a country 
remains unchanged even though it be conquered in war. 
The Austrian writer, Alfred Fried, the French publicist, 
D'Estournelles de Constant, and the Russian novelist, 
Count Leo Tolstoy, contributed powerfully by their pens 
to the peace movement. An active anti-militarist agitation 
was conducted in every country by radicals and socialists. 
In France, particularly, the movement was so strong that 
great anxiety was felt by the Government lest the soldiers 
and the masses be infected with the spirit of revolt against 
armament. 

On August 24, 1898, the world was astonished by an 
address of Tsar Nicholas II to the nations represented at 
Tsar Petrograd, in which he declared that the sys- 

Nicholas j- em f "armed peace" was ruinous to all coun- 
a peace tries, that the intellectual and physical powers 

congress Q f evel y p e0 pl e were thereby diverted to use- 
less channels, and that, if it were prolonged, a cataclysm 
of indescribable horror would be the outcome. He then 
suggested that an international conference be held to dis- 
cuss the matter of armaments in order to find some way 
of solving the problem. The result of the Tsar's appeal 
was the convening of a remarkable world assembly, the 
First Peace Conference, which met at The Hague, Holland, 
from May 18 to July 29, 1899, and to which twenty-six 
of the fifty-nine independent nations sent delegates. 

To enthusiastic lovers of peace the dream of universal 
disarmament seemed about to be realized. The least that 
The First was ex P ect ed was the reduction of armaments 
Peace to lighten the burden that lay so heavily upon 

Europe. It soon became evident, however, that 
the Conference would accomplish little in that direction, 
because of the national rivalries and jealousies, which did 
not abate even at this peace meeting. Every effort looking 
toward the limitation of armaments was blocked, especially 
by the German delegates, because it was feared that the ter- 
ritorial status quo would thus be permanently established 
and nations would then have to give up all hopes of expan- 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 699 

sion. Although the chief aim of the Conference remained 
unfulfilled, several things of importance were accomplished. 
A Permanent Court of Arbitration was established at The 
Hague, to which nations were advised to go to settle their 
disputes. This Court was not an organized body with regu- 
lar sessions, but a list of distinguished jurists selected by 
all nations, from which disputants may choose a board of 
arbitrators. In the interest of humanity the Conference 
also codified the laws of warfare. It forbade the dropping 
of projectiles from balloons and the use of asphyxiating 
gases and "dumdum" bullets; 1 it adopted the rules of the 
Geneva Convention for the treatment of the wounded. 

A second Peace Conference was called at The Hague in 
1907 by Tsar Nicholas II and by President Roosevelt. 
This time it was attended by representatives of The s econc i 
forty-four sovereign States, twenty-one Euro- Peace 
pean, nineteen American, and four Asiatic. The 
work of the Second Peace Conference was largely a repe- 
tition of that of the First. Rules were adopted for the more 
humane conduct of naval as well as of land warfare, and 
an international prize court was authorized. In regard to 
the limitation of armaments there was much discussion, but 
no plan was presented to the Conference for adoption. 

A satiric commentary on the peace movement was fur- 
nished by the outbreak of wars at the beginning of the 
twentieth century, the Russo-Japanese, the Wars f n ow 
Italo-Turkish, and the Balkan Wars. Arma- the Peace 

Conferences 

ments, instead of being limited, were increased 
at a greater rate than ever before. The Permanent Court of 
Arbitration did settle a number of disputes between nations, 
but these were generally of a minor character. In impor- 
tant matters the nations refused to go to the Court, either 
because they did not wish to do so or because they felt that 
it was useless, for military force was not provided to enforce 
its decisions. 

1 This is a bullet with a soft "nose" which, upon striking, is flattened or 
spread, thus inflicting a shocking wound. 



700 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Morocco 

The last quarter of the nineteenth century witnessed the 
revival of the Mediterranean as a highway of commerce. 
The Al e- This was due to the building of the Suez Canal, 
ciras Con- which gave a shorter all- water route to India, 
to the economic development of the Balkan Pe- 
ninsula, and to the European occupation and exploitation of 
Northern Africa. At the beginning of the twentieth century 
Morocco was an independent State under the rule of a 
sultan whose authority was, however, frequently flouted by 
the semi-civilized tribes that roamed through the country. 
Germany, ever on the lookout for colonies, saw in Mo- 
rocco an excellent field for expansion, and German capital- 
ists succeeded in getting concessions from the Sultan and 
from some of the tribal chiefs. But France, too, was am- 
bitious to expand in that region, and, being next door in 
Algiers, she began a policy of "peaceful penetration" by 
acquiring rights for her capitalists to build railways and 
telegraphs and to open mines. But the semi-civilized tribes 
in the interior attacked the Europeans, and punitive expe- 
ditions of French troops had to be sent to quiet them. It 
looked as if the fate of Algiers would befall Morocco, be- 
cause the native sultan was unable to protect himself 
against aggression. But he found a powerful champion in 
Germany, who took up his cause because she was eager to 
get a foothold in the country. A struggle then ensued be- 
tween France and Germany for the possession of Morocco, 
which brought about a great European crisis. Taking 
advantage of the preoccupation of France's ally, Russia, 
in her war with Japan, Emperor William II, in 1905, 
paid a visit to the Sultan at Tangier and pointedly rec- 
ognized him as the independent ruler of Morocco. This was 
in the nature of a challenge to France, who, deprived of 
the aid of her ally, agreed to submit the question to an 
international congress. Delcasse, who was largely respon- 
sible for the crisis, was obliged to resign from the Foreign 
Office, dismissed, it was rumored, at the command of the 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 701 

German Emperor. The congress met at Algeciras, Spain, 
in 1906, and agreed on the following: that a bank should 
be established under international control, each signatory 
Power to have one share, except France, which was to 
have three ; that all nations should have equal opportunities 
to trade; and that the independence of the Sultan should 
be recognized, but that France should have the right 
to maintain order under international supervision. The 
Algeciras Congress was, to some extent, a triumph for 
Germany; for it forbade the annexation of Morocco and 
established there, in theory at least, the "open door." 

But France was determined to annex this valuable region. 
In 1907 French citizens were attacked in Casablanca, which 
was then bombarded by French warships. Civil The Agadir 
war was raging between the Sultan and a pre- lncldent 
tender to the throne, and disorder was rife. The Sultan 
applied to the French for money and troops with which to 
put down the uprising, and both were given. In 191 1 a 
French army marched into Fez, the capital of Morocco, to 
suppress the rebels. Having succeeded, it refused to leave 
the country until order should have been permanently 
established. To Germany this plainly meant the determin- 
ation of France to annex Morocco, and a German warship, 
the Panther, was sent to Agadir, ostensibly to defend Ger- 
man interests, but really as a warning to France. Feeling 
rose high in both countries, and Europe was again trembling 
on the brink of war. Germany wanted to know the full 
extent of English support of France. She had not long to 
wait. The British Government, with the approval of both 
parties in Parliament, came out in full and hearty sup- 
port of the French claims. The Entente was in perfect 
working order and Germany decided to yield. She signed 
a convention with France in 191 1, agreeing to the estab- 
lishment of a French protectorate in Morocco on condition 
that the "open door" be maintained; in return Germany 
was to get part of French Congo. In the following year 
(1912) France formally declared Morocco a protectorate. 
In the "Agadir incident" Germany suffered a diplomatic 



702 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

defeat, which infuriated her against England whom she 
charged with conspiring to foil her efforts to expand. 

The Bagdad Railway 

To be a great Power and yet to be restricted to the nar- 
row confines of her European territory caused Germany 
Germany's much chagrin. To many Germans the British 
idea of an Empire was a standing proof of the benefits of 

economic " or- 

empire colonies. The trade of England with her colo- 

nies was growing, and their development was largely carried 
on by British capital. Besides the economic, there was the 
military advantage of having a large number of men, who 
would flock from all over the world to defend their common 
flag. But as there seemed to be no possibility of acquiring 
new territory, Germany decided to expand in a different man- 
ner, — by getting diplomatic control of weak governments 
in undeveloped but fertile countries. Economic benefits 
in trade and in concessions would naturally follow; even 
military help could be gained by becoming an ally of the 
country that was being exploited. Germany fixed her eyes 
on Mesopotamia, in Asiatic Turkey, a fertile region at one 
time the seat of a flourishing civilization, but now fallen 
into decay. Mesopotamia was to be the scene of a new kind 
of expansion; there Germany hoped to build a great eco- 
nomic empire that would furnish an outlet for her trade and 
capital. To accomplish this it was necessary to gain a 
dominant influence over the Turkish Government. How 
this was done has already been described. 1 

In modern times the exploitation of an undeveloped re- 
gion begins with the building of railways. As soon as rapid 
Function of means of communication and transportation are 
railways in established, connecting isolated with civilized 

undeveloped ' ° . 

lands regions, the pulse of commerce begins to beat 

more rapidly ; factories are built, cities grow, and even agri- 
culture is stimulated by the prospect of new and better 
markets. German financiers determined to build a great 
railway from the Bosphorus to the Persian Gulf. They 

1 See p. 642. 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 



703 




believed that under German tutelage Asia Minor could 
once more become a flourishing region, and they were pre- 
pared to invest heavily to exploit this region in order to 
reap the fruits of its future prosperity. 

The Anatolian Railway from Ismid, a point on the Bos- 
phorus, to Konia, in Anatolia, which was constructed by 
German and British capitalists, was completed in 1896. 



704 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Following the second visit of Emperor William to Constan- 
The Bagdad tinople, the Sultan granted a concession in 1899 
Railway to a g rQ up of German capitalists backed by the 
Deutsche Bank, the greatest financial institution in Ger- 
many, to continue the railway to Bagdad, and from thence 
to a point on the Persian Gulf. This was the beginning of 
the "peaceful penetration" of Asiatic Turkey. The pro- 
jected "B.-B.-B." (Berlin-Byzantium-Bagdad), as the Bag- 
dad railway was called, aroused the greatest enthusiasm 
in Germany. A masterly and far-seeing policy was thereby 
inaugurated of connecting the Baltic Sea with the Persian 
Gulf through a "corridor," beginning at Berlin, running 
to Vienna, thence to Constantinople, thence to Bagdad, and 
finally to the Persian Gulf. Should this dream be real- 
ized, Germany would be "satiated" once more, as a large 
region, comprising Central and Southeastern Europe and 
Western Asia, would eventually become her economic col- 
ony, from which she would draw rich tribute. The Sultan 
renewed the concession in 1902, permitting the Bagdad 
Railway Company to extend the line to Koweit, on the 
Persian Gulf, which was to be the terminus. Another rail- 
way, the Hedjaz, running from Aleppo through Syria and 
Hedjaz to Mecca, was also being built under German 
auspices. 

At the beginning of these railway projects the Germans 
invited British and French capitalists to join them in their 
Opposition enterprises, and some did so. But England fore- 
of England saw t h e political and military possibilities that 
Gulf ter- lay in the Bagdad Railway. Were a fortified 
mlnus naval base established in the Persian Gulf at 

the terminus of the railway, it might become a dangerous 
base of operations against India, because it would be in 
direct communication with Germany and Austria. Oppo- 
sition in England to the Bagdad Railway v/as not slow in 
developing. In 1903 Lord Lansdowne, the British Foreign 
Secretary, declared that his country "would regard the 
establishment of a naval base or of a fortified port in the 
Persian Gulf by any other Power as a grave menace to 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 705 

British interests and would certainly resist it by all means 
at her disposal." British capitalists refused to subscribe 
to the bonds of the Bagdad Railway. Through British 
pressure the local sheik, who ruled the district of Koweit, 
defied his suzerain, the Sultan of Turkey, and refused to 
permit the extension of the railway to the Gulf. 

To the British, Germany had now succeeded Russia as 
the nation that was threatening India. The region around 
Suez has been described as the "spinal cord" England's 
of the British Empire, for it is the vital link in Germany's 
the communication between England, Egypt, ambitions 
and India. This was now in danger of being cut by the 
Bagdad and Hedjaz Railways. There was great irritation 
and alarm in England at what were called the schemes of 
Germany to use Turkey as a tool with which to destroy 
the British Empire. 

The Balkans 

The Bagdad Railway matter was closely connected with 
the Balkan situation, particularly as both affected German 
interests. Germany herself had no ambitions influence of 
in the Balkans; her interests, as we have just the^ Balkan" 
seen, lay in Asiatic Turkey. But in order that States 
the "corridor" from the Baltic to the Persian Gulf re- 
main unobstructed, the Balkan nations had to be amenable 
to German influence. At the opening of the twentieth 
century the political situation in the Balkans was most 
favorable to Germany. Turkey was so closely tied to Ger- 
many that she was, to all intents and purposes, a member 
of the Triple Alliance. Nearly all the rulers of the Chris- 
tian states in the Balkans were Germans or under German 
influence. Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria was a German; 
King Charles of Rumania was a member of the Hohenzol- 
lern family; the wife of the future King Constantine of 
Greece was a sister of Emperor William; King Alexander 
of Serbia was under Austrian influence. Dynastic consid- 
erations have played a big part in the conduct of affairs 
in the Balkans, where most of the people, having just 



706 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

emerged from semi-serfdom, were, consequently, ill-fitted 
for self-government. 

All was well from the German-Austrian point of view till 
the assassination of King Alexander of Serbia in 1903. 
Serbia be- King Peter, the new Serbian monarch, showed 
friendly to a decided leaning toward Russia. The latter, 
Russia after her defeat by Japan, revived her interest 

in the Balkans to offset Austrian aggression, and she now 
reentered Balkan politics with zest. Great alarm was felt 
by the Teutonic Powers at the growing friendship between 
Serbia and Russia; Germany, because she feared the erec- 
tion of a Slav barrier across her "corridor"; Austria, be- 
cause she feared a Pan-Slavic agitation which might disin- 
tegrate her empire as it had disintegrated Turkey. 

It was to the interest of both of these Powers to crush 
any Balkan state that should play into the hands of Russia. 
Annexation They therefore determined to deliver their first 
Herzego-" blow at Slavism before Russia could recover 
vina from the effects of the Revolution of 1905 and 

from her defeat by Japan. On October 7, 1908, Baron von 
Aerenthal, the Austrian Foreign Minister, announced the 
annexation of Bosnia- Herzegovina to Austria, thus violat- 
ing the Treaty of Berlin, which gave her merely the right 
to "administer" this region. Strenuous protests against 
Austria's action were made by Serbia, who had hoped some 
day to incorporate these provinces, which are inhabited by 
Serbs, into the "Greater Serbia" of which she was dreaming. 
Russia, too, was indignant at what she regarded as a blow 
aimed at the Slavic race by a Teutonic Power. War clouds 
began to gather on the European horizon. To the side of 
Austria sprang Germany, "like a knight in shining armor," 
as Emperor William expressed it, and dared Russia to attack 
her ally. Russia, however, was in no condition to fight, as 
her finances were badly involved and her army in process 
of reorganization. She therefore beat a humiliating retreat 
and agreed to the incorporation of Bosnia-Herzegovina 
with Austria. The first Balkan crisis, like the first Moroccan 
crisis, ended in a distinct triumph for Germany. She recov- 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 707 

ered for a time the diplomatic hegemony of Europe which 
she had enjoyed in the days of Bismarck. In both instances 
it was Emperor William who was the central figure and, as 
a consequence, he became the hero of the new Germany as 
Bismarck had been of the old. 

But the blow delivered to Pan-Slavism by no means de- 
stroyed it. On the contrary, it awoke in Russia and in Ser- 
bia a grim determination to have it out with the c , ... 
Teutonic Powers on some future day when con- ance of 
ditions would be more favorable for them. In andXustria 
the meantime they began a vigorous Pan-Slavic gainst 

1 10 101 -a Pan-Slavism 

propaganda among the Southern Slavs in Aus- 
tria with the object of weakening and even of disintegrat- 
ing the Dual Monarchy. The Triple Alliance was seriously 
weakened by the Italo-Turkish War in which Italy gained 
Tripoli; Italy's support of the Alliance became doubtful 
now that she had made territorial gains with the consent of 
France and England. Austria and Germany consequently 
drew more closely together; Austria, fearful of disintegra- 
tion, clung desperately to her mighty Teutonic sister; Ger- 
many, seeing in Austria her only friend, determined to sup- 
port her to the utmost, lest the destruction of the Dual 
Monarchy should leave her unsupported in a hostile world. 

The second Balkan crisis came during the Balkan Wars 
of 1912-13. As both the Serb states, Serbia and Monte- 
negro, desired to expand toward the Adriatic, a Th , 
Montenegrin army took Scutari, and a Serbian Balkan 
took Durazzo, from the Turks. Austria, how- crlsls 
ever, was opposed to the expansion of the Serbs and, again 
backed by Germany, she demanded the evacuation of these 
two cities. Serbia and Montenegro, supported by Russia, 
refused. Once more a crisis was precipitated in Europe, and 
the nations, began to prepare for war. But the crisis was 
passed safely, the Serb states yielding to Austria's demand 
that the two cities become part of the newly formed King- 
dom of Albania. 

Hatred between Slav and Teuton became more intense 
than ever. The feeling in the Slav world was that Austria 



708 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

was the enemy of their national aspirations, just as in the 
Hatred past she had been the enemy of those of the 

Slav and Germans and Italians. Austria must, therefore, 
Teuton be expelled from the Balkans as she had been 

from Germany and Italy. The Pan-Slavic propaganda in 
the Hapsburg dominions was now pushed with renewed 
vigor through secret societies and patriotic journals. 

The common opinion in the year 19 13 was that Europe 
could not stand another crisis. Let another "incident" 

Preparations ar * se an< ^ t ^ le wor ^ would be plunged into war. 
for a general All the nations began to prepare for the coming 
conflict more assiduously than ever : the Reichs- 
tag increased the peace footing of the German army by 
136,000 men; shortly afterwards, France followed by in- 
creasing military service from two to three years; Russia 
reorganized her army and increased military service from 
three to three and one quarter years; Austria-Hungary 
increased her peace footing by 97,000 men; Italy introduced 
important army reforms; Belgium introduced universal 
military service; England increased her naval appropria- 
tions. These military preparations were ominous for the 
peace of the world. 



CHAPTER XXX 

THE WORLD WAR 

Introduction 

In 1 914 the possibility of a world war seemed remote, 
in spite of the highly inflammable condition of European 
affairs during the preceding year. By many Seeming im- 
persons it was thought that wars between great ^generaf ° f 
nations belonged to the dead past. The last war 
important war fought in Europe was the Franco-Prussian 
War which, to the generation living in 1914, was hardly 
a memory. Wars might still be fought between small na- 
tions or in far-off Asia; but the great nations of Europe 
would assuredly manage to ride safely over crises in the 
future as they had so often succeeded in doing in the past. 
As every great Power was now in a coalition, the period of 
localized wars was past. If two nations went to war under 
present conditions, they would be sure to drag all the 
others into a general conflict. For that reason, responsible 
statesmen would tread their ground warily and use their 
utmost endeavors to ward off such a catastrophe. 

During the first decade of the twentieth century there 
were indications of continued peace, notwithstanding the 
menace of increasing armaments. The nations Interna i 
were more and more turning their attention to problems of 
domestic problems, to those affecting the wel- 
fare of the working classes in particular. Legislation of a 
far-reaching kind was being enacted or contemplated in 
every country. In England social insurance, land reform, 
woman suffrage, and Irish Home Rule occupied the public 
mind. In Germany the Reichstag elections of 1912 resulted 
in a greatly increased Socialist vote; and the Government 
was seriously contemplating a modification of the auto- 
cratic system. In France the Church question, educa- 
tional reform, social insurance, and proportional rep- 
resentation monopolized public attention. In Russia the 



710 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Government was busy suppressing revolutionists and in- 
augurating agrarian reforms. In Italy the problems of 
taxation, housing, and education engaged the attention of 
the people. In Austria, as ever, the internal race problems 
continued to be uppermost in public affairs. 

Another significant trend in favor of continued peace was 
the growth of socialism. The Socialist Party was interna- 
Growth of tional and pacifistic in principle. In conventions 
socialism anc j j n parliaments, it had uniformly denounced 
war as an institution that benefits capitalists and mili- 
tarists, but which brings nothing but suffering to the work- 
ing class. During the Morocco crises, the Socialist Parties 
in France and Germany had warned their Governments 
that the workingmen would revolt in case war was de- 
clared; and the peaceful settlement of these disputes was 
due largely, it was then said, to the attitude of the Social- 
ists. Syndicalism was even more violently anti-militaristic. 
It was conducting an aggressive agitation against conscrip- 
tion, armaments, and war; and it threatened to bring about 
a revolution that would spread throughout Europe should an 
international conflict arise. The nations of Europe seemed 
too occupied with their domestic concerns to think of war. 
Moreover, the peace movement as described in the last chap- 
ter was making rapid headway. The situation, however, 
was deceptive. There was one Power which, in spite of its 
prodigious progress in the arts of peace, had been develop- 
ing still more the arts of war; and which, as was soon to be 
seen, had yielded itself to the control of militarists. That 
Power was Germany. 

Quarrel between Austria and Serbia 

On June 28, 191 4, the world was startled by news from 
the obscure little capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo. The Arch- 
Murder of duke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Hapsburg 
Francis^ throne, and his wife were assassinated in its 
Ferdinand streets. The motive for the murder was politi- 
cal; it was committed by two young Bosnian patriots as a 
protest against Austria's attitude toward the Jugo-Slavs. 



THE WORLD WAR 711 

Throughout Austria and Germany the assassination was 
regarded as an act of defiance against Teuton supremacy 
by the Southern Slavs, and consequently it Serb ; a he j d 
aroused great indignation. An investigation responsible 
claimed to establish the fact that the murder was 
the culmination of a conspiracy formed by a secret political 
society whose headquarters was in Serbia. The Austrian 
Government felt convinced that the plot to murder the 
Archduke was aided and abetted, if not actually planned, 
by Serbian officials in Belgrade ; and that it was the natural 
outcome of the Serbian nationalist agitation among the 
Slavic population of Bosnia. 1 

Austria determined to put a stop to the Serbian con- 
spiracies which, she declared, menaced her very existence; 
and she prepared to go to the length of suppress- ultimatum 
ing her small but troublesome neighbor by force toSerbia 
of arms. On July 23 Count von Berchtold, the Austrian 
Foreign Minister, dispatched an ultimatum to Serbia. It 
declared that the latter had broken her promise "to live 
on good neighborly terms" by encouraging an unfriendly 
propaganda aimed against the Dual Monarchy ; and charged 
that Serbian officers had planned the Sarajevo crime in 
Belgrade and had provided the assassins with weapons for 
that purpose. The ultimatum then made several peremp- 
tory demands, the most important of which were: (1) that 
the Serbian Government officially condemn the anti-Aus- 
trian propaganda by her citizens; (2) that it suppress all 
publications and societies which incite hatred and contempt 
of the Dual Monarchy; (3) that all anti- Austrian teachers 
and books be eliminated from the public schools; (4) that 
the public officials implicated in the anti-Austrian propa- 
ganda be dismissed ; (5) that two Serbian officers, named in 
the ultimatum, be arrested at once; (6) that Serbia accept 
the "collaboration" of Austrian officials in the suppression 
of the anti-Austrian propaganda within her borders; and 
(7) that Serbia accept the help of Austrian officials in the 

1 For additional details concerning the Serbian nationalist propaganda 
see pp. 707, 708. 



712 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

investigation of those implicated in the Sarajevo crime. 
A reply was demanded within forty-eight hours. 

Serbia saw in this ultimatum an interference with her 
sovereign rights, which would reduce her to a condition of 
s ,. , virtual vassalage to Austria; nevertheless, her 

conciliatory reply, delivered two minutes before the expira- 
rep y tion of the ultimatum, was conciliatory in tone. 

It recalled Serbia's moderate and pacific attitude toward 
Austria during the Balkan Wars, and avowed that, al- 
though her Government was not responsible for the activi- 
ties of private individuals and societies in their propaganda 
against the Dual Monarchy, she was willing to condemn 
them officially. Serbia then offered to accede to all the 
demands of the ultimatum, except the ones referring to the 
presence of Austrian officials on Serbian soil with the pur- 
pose of participating in the suppression of the anti-Austrian 
propaganda and in the investigation of the Sarajevo crime. 
To permit aliens to act in that capacity, she declared, 
would be a violation of her constitution and of her rights 
as a sovereign State. It concluded with a statement that, 
should Austria find the reply unsatisfactory, Serbia was 
willing to refer the whole matter to arbitration by an in- 
ternational tribunal or to the decision of the Great Powers. 

Russia and Germany 

Austria refused to accept this reply because Serbia had 
not met every demand to the very letter, and broke off 
Russia and diplomatic relations with her. Both sides at 
enteThuo once ma de ready for war. But it soon became 
the quarrel apparent that the coming conflict was not to be 
"localized," because of the intervention of Russia on the 
side of Serbia and of Germany on the side of Austria. In 
sending the ultimatum Austria had taken a step that was 
fraught with momentous consequences; for a war in the 
"danger zone of Europe," the Near East, was bound to 
become an international matter because of the many in- 
terests involved. Indignation in the Tsar's dominions at 
the Austrian ultimatum ran high because it was regarded 



THE WORLD WAR 713 

as an attempt of a great Teutonic Power to destroy the 
independence of a little Slav nation. Russia, declaring 
that the quarrel was full of European consequences, de- 
manded that it should therefore be submitted to arbitration. 
She threatened to mobilize her troops the moment Aus- 
trian armies crossed the Serbian frontier. Germany, as 
in 1908 and 1913, came out in support of Austria with a 
declaration that the latter must be allowed a free hand in 
punishing Serbia for conspiring against her; and that, as 
a matter of self-defense, Germany would do all in her power 
to save her ally from being weakened or disrupted. Even 
when it became apparent that a war with Serbia would 
involve all Europe, Germany gave her whole-hearted sup- 
port to Austria, who was thereby emboldened to press her 
ultimatum on Serbia. Germany threatened to mobilize 
against Russia and France the moment Russia attacked 
Austria. The quarrel was thus taken up by two far greater 
antagonists, Russia and Germany, and the danger of a 
European war became imminent. 

On July 26, Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secre- 
tary, suggested a conference between England, France, 
Germany, and Italy to settle the Austro-Serb ~ 

J J Grey sug- 

quarrel. Germany, however, refused to accept gests arbi- 
the suggestion on the ground that only Russia 
and Austria, the parties vitally interested in the matter, 
could call such a conference. 

Events moved so rapidly that the world was dazed. On 
July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia. On the following 
day, Russia issued an order mobilizing her ar- „, . t 

/ ' p # ° War between 

mies against Austria and Germany. This was im- Germany 
mediately followed by a German mobilization 
against Russia and France. The situation was most critical, 
and Sir Edward Grey again made efforts for a peaceful 
settlement. To his overtures the Russian Foreign Minister, 
Sazonov, replied that his Government would stop mobiliz- 
ing on condition that Austria withdrew from her ultimatum 
those points which violated Serbian sovereignty. Herr von 
Jagow, the German Foreign Secretary, declared this reply 



714 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

to be unsatisfactory. Sazonov then modified his demand 
by declaring that, if Austria stopped her advance on Ser- 
bian territory and recognized the dispute as a matter con- 
cerning all of Europe by calling in the Great Powers to help 
toward a settlement, Russia would maintain a waiting 
attitude. This was also rejected by Austria and Germany. 
Sir Edward Grey then came out with a statement that if 
Germany gave a reasonable proposal for peace, and Russia 
and France refused to accept it, England would not support 
them ; but, if Germany refused to give such a proposal and 
a conflict resulted, England would not support her. On 
July 31, Germany dispatched an ultimatum to Russia de- 
manding the immediate withdrawal of her mobilization 
orders. No reply was received. On August 1, war was 
declared by Germany against Russia. 

Violation of Belgian Neutrality 

Now that these two giants were in the field, it became 
inevitable that all those allied with them would be drawn 
War between * nto * ne conflict. Germany sent an ultimatum to 
Germany France demanding to know her attitude in the 

and France . r^, 1 r r- 1,1 

coming war. 1 he reply of r* ranee was such that 
Germany felt sure that she would support her ally, Russia; 
and Germany declared war against her on August 3. 

On the inquiry of Sir Edward Grey regarding Germany's 
intentions toward France, Chancellor von Bethmann- 
England and Hollweg gave assurance that his country had no 
Germany desire to take European territory from France; 
but he refused to commit himself in reference to the French 
colonies ; and the promise, given under such circumstances, 
was not reassuring. To keep England neutral was a matter 
of vital importance to Germany. She keenly realized the 
great part the British navy would play in driving her com- 
merce from the seas and in blockading her ports. But Ger- 
many's plan of campaign was bound to draw England into 
the war. She planned to crush France by a swift march on 
Paris before Russia's armies were ready for an attack upon 
her in the East; France crushed, she would then turn on 



THE WORLD WAR 715 

Russia with all her forces. Victory to German arms seemed 
assured according to this plan; but it must be executed 
quickly in order to frustrate a simultaneous move against 
her frontiers by both Russia and France. The quickest way 
to reach the heart of France was through Belgium. 

The neutrality of Belgium had been guaranteed by the 
Powers including Prussia. 1 That Germany intended to 
violate the neutrality of Belgium and that of Violation 
the other little buffer state, Luxemburg, ap- °eutSity 
peared manifest, for German troops were being by Germany 
concentrated on their frontiers. On July 31, Sir Edward 
Grey addressed a note to France and Germany in reference 
to the neutrality of Belgium. France replied that she would 
respect it. Germany's answer was evasive: she was "not 
in a position to reply." On August 2, Germany addressed 
a note to Belgium saying that as France was preparing to 
violate her neutrality in order to invade Germany, to fore- 
stall her she must pass through Belgian territory to invade 
France. She declared that, if Belgium permitted the Ger- 
man armies to pass through her territory, indemnity would 
be paid for all damage done by them; but, if she refused, her 
fate would be determined by the "decision of arms." The 
reply of Belgium is noteworthy. She reminded Germany 
of her pledge as a guarantor of Belgian neutrality; and she 
declared that Belgium could not accept Germany's ulti- 
matum without being faithless to her obligations and with- 
out sacrificing her honor. She refused to believe that her 
independence could be preserved only at the price of the 
violation of her neutrality; and she was firmly resolved to 
repel every attack upon her rights. On the same day that 
the ultimatum was sent to Belgium, German troops oc- 
cupied Luxemburg against the protests of her ruler, the 
Grand Duchess. Two days later, the memorable August 4, 
German troops crossed the Belgian frontier. Great Britain 
immediately declared war against Germany. 

The world was profoundly shocked by Germany's open 
violation of international law and by her breach of faith. 

1 See p. 485. 



716 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg defended his country's 
German action in a famous speech. " We are now acting in 

and English self-defense," he announced. "Necessity knows 
Belgian no law. Our troops have occupied Luxemburg 

neutrality anc | ^ve probably, by this time, entered Bel- 
gian soil. This is a breach of international law . . . but we 
shall try to make good the injustice as soon as our military 
goal has been reached." He bitterly denounced England's 
action in going to war over "a scrap of paper," as he char- 
acterized the treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality. Ger- 
many's conduct aroused the English people to a high pitch 
of indignation; and all classes rallied to the support of the 
Government which, otherwise, might have encountered 
serious opposition from the liberal and radical elements. 

Germany's main defense of her breach of faith has been 
that secret documents, which were subsequently found in 
Germany's Brussels, disclosed a plan of cooperation be- 
he^breach tween the English and Belgian armies in case 
of faith of a German invasion of Belgium ; this, she de- 

clared, constituted an Anglo-Belgian alliance against Ger- 
many which relieved her of the obligation to respect Bel- 
gium's neutrality. In reply Albert, King of the Belgians, 
declared that his Government had informed Germany of this 
military convention at the time that it was made; and that 
it could not be fairly interpreted as an alliance with Eng- 
land, for the reason that the latter, as one of the guarantors 
of the neutrality of Belgium, was obliged to aid her against 
any nation that attempted to violate it ; and the only nation 
that was planning to do so was Germany. The Germans also 
asserted that French aeroplanes had flown over Belgium 
before war was declared, thus violating her neutrality. But 
there was no evidence to sustain this assertion. 

One month later, on September 5, England, France, and 
Russia signed an agreement mutually pledging one another 
„ not to make a separate peace, and to accept a 

Common *" r ; 

policy of general peace only on terms which would be 
the Allies a g reea ble to all of them. The Triple Entente, 
under stimulus of war, became a hard-and-fast alliance. 



THE WORLD WAR 717 

The European War cast its shadow in Asia also. Japan, 
as an ally of Great Britain pledged to support her in Asia- 
tic waters, sent an ultimatum to Germany de- japan joins 
manding that she withdraw all her warships the Alhes 
from Far Eastern waters and that she evacuate Kiau-chau, 
her great Chinese port. Upon Germany's refusal, Japan 
declared war against her, on August 23. Later, Japan, too, 
became a party to the agreement of the Allies not to make 
a separate peace. Of the great nations, only the United 
States and Italy were still at peace, both of them having 
declared their neutrality. 

The Balkans 

As usual the situation in the Balkans was very much 
mixed. Rivalries of all kinds, of the Allied nations with one 
another, of each with the Balkan States, and of Riva i r ; es and 
the latter among themselves, operated to the dissensions in 

. r r^ 111 the Balkans 

great advantage 01 Germany, who had reason 
to fear that the entire Balkan peninsula might be ranged 
against her. In Greece popular opinion, as voiced by Ven- 
izelos, favored the Allies; but King Constantine insisted 
on remaining neutral. Rumania was undecided; she was 
friendly neither to Austria nor to Russia, both of whom 
possessed provinces, occupied by Rumanians that she 
wanted to bring under her own flag. Bulgaria, smarting 
from her wounds of the Second Balkan War, hated Serbia 
much too strongly to fight on her side. Moreover, she 
was in close economic and diplomatic relations with Ger- 
many and Austria. King Ferdinand favored the Teutonic 
Powers, but popular sentiment was not entirely on their 
side. 

Two Balkan nations, Montenegro and Turkey, entered 
the war almost from the start. On August 8, Montenegro 
took common cause with Serbia, her fellow Serb Montenegro 
State, and declared war upon Austria. Turkey, enf e 7thV ey 
largely dominated by Germany and fearful of war 
Russia's designs upon Constantinople, was led to throw 
in her lot with the Central Powers by the menace of two 



718 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

German warships which, eluding the British fleet, held 
Constantinople under their guns. On November 5, these 
German warships entered the Black Sea to bombard Rus- 
sian ports, and Russia declared war upon Turkey. 

Summary of Causes 

At last had come that universal conflagration, the fear 
of which had dimly haunted the mind of many a man for 
First World a quarter of a century. Nothing like it had ever 
War before happened in history. The general wars 

of earlier times, like those that grew out of the Protestant 
Revolution, or the dynastic rivalries of the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries, or the French Revolution, were 
confined mainly to Europe. In this great war there was 
hardly a nation on the entire globe that was not involved ; 
for this reason it may truly be called "The World War." 
It is possible now merely to indicate, and that very gen- 
erally, the fundamental causes of the great conflict; for it 
has deep and wide-spreading roots in the history of the 
world. 

The twentieth century inherited from the nineteenth 
many unsolved problems affecting the political and eco- 
nomic life of the world. One of these was na- 

Nationahsm . , . - . 

tionahsm. A nation has been denned as a peo- 
ple which possesses its own language, traditions, and culture, 
and enough self -consciousness to preserve them. Since the 
sixteenth century much of modern European history is the 
story of the political development of nations into state- 
hood. Before that time Europe had been divided into a 
large number of independent and semi-independent locali- 
ties, the inhabitants of which were strangers to one another 
in laws, in customs, and in language. From the ruins of 
feudalism there arose powerful, united nations, held to- 
gether by the absolute power of the king, who had reduced 
the feudal nobility to subjection. "To die for the king" 
was the first form of patriotic devotion ; for in those days he 
was the only symbol of national unity. This early patri- 
otism was, however, confined mainly to the upper classes; 



THE WORLD WAR 719 

the mass of the people were still animated by the old, pro- 
vincial spirit, as they had been from time immemorial. 
Nationalism had not yet entered into the common con- 
sciousness. 

It was the French Revolution that gave nationalism its 
greatest impetus. By establishing democratic institutions 
and uniform laws it aroused among all classes _ 

. I he b rench 

and all localities a common national feeling. For and Indus- 
the first time the great mass of the people felt ["ttons^' 
that it was glorious to die for one's country. The strengthen 

, . . nationalism 

French Revolution had democratized patriotism. 
It remained for the Industrial Revolution, however, to lay 
a solid foundation for nationalism. The railways and steam- 
boats were like a network of veins and arteries that carried 
the blood of the nation pulsating to the farthest part of 
the body. The economic interests of the nation, whose 
people were isolated in different districts or divided into 
separate states, were concentrated in the factory; and this 
integration of common interests gave a powerful momentum 
to greater nationalism. Old nations, like France and Eng- 
land, became more firmly knit; and new nations, like Ger- 
many and Italy, came into existence. 

Nevertheless, the principle of nationality was far from 
being fully realized at the beginning of the twentieth 
century. "Submerged" nationalities were gov- « Sub 
erned against their will by people whom they re- merged" 

11 i- t t> • u_i .<_!_ r> i nationalities 

garded as aliens. In Russia there were the roles, 
Finns, Letts, and Jews; in Germany, the Poles, Alsatians, 
and Danes; in the United Kingdom, the Irish. In Austria- 
Hungary and Turkey the violation of the principle of 
nationality was particularly flagrant; for in each of these 
empires the ruling race constituted a minority of the total 
population. The very existence of the Austrian and Ot- 
toman Empires was an incitement to war; sooner or later 
the various subject races were bound to rise in revolu- 
tion or to appeal to their kinsmen in other lands to liberate 
them. 

Another unsolved problem was democracy. Like na- 



720 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

tionalism, democracy is an abstract term and, therefore, 
difficult to define. In a general way, it may be described 
as a form of political organization wherein the mass of the 
^ people, through universal suffrage, exercises su- 

Democracy ^ . . ° 

preme power in the state, be it lor weal or lor 
woe. Democracy was the leading idea at the point of the 
revolutionary bayonets of 1776 in America and of 1793 in 
France. It made great headway, either through violent up- 
risings or through peaceful reform measures, transforming 
autocratic and oligarchic nations into self-governing com- 
monwealths. 

But the triumph of democracy, like that of nationalism, 
was incomplete at the beginning of the twentieth century. 
Russia and Two powerful states, Russia and Germany, 
remain 117 refused to accept, either in principle or in prac- 
autocratic tice, the democratic ideal of government. Were 
the influence of either to become predominant in the world's 
affairs, it would constitute a menace to democracy. Of the 
two, Germany was more to be feared because her won- 
derfully efficient government and her great wealth were 
at the service of a ruling class that was animated by mili- 
tary ideals. As to Russia, much of the fear of her pre- 
dominance vanished when she was defeated by Japan; and 
the democratic nations were still more reassured when, in 
the Revolution of 1905, the Russian people themselves 
gave evidence of hostility to tsarism. Germany alone was 
undefeated; and there seemed to be no sign of a revolu- 
tionary movement among the German people. 

A third unsolved problem was that of economic expan- 
sion. In spite of the general advance of modern industry, 
Lack of eco- the economic life of the world at the beginning 
formity in °f the twentieth century was far from being uni- 
the world form. Industrially, England, Germany, and the 
United States were highly developed; France and Italy 
maintained an even balance between agriculture and manu- 
facturing; much of Eastern Europe was in the early stages 
of the Industrial Revolution; most of Asia was hardly 
touched by modern industry; and Africa was for the most 



THE WORLD WAR 721 

part primitive. What was to be the relation between the 
advanced and the backward countries? Inevitably the 
hunger for territory and for profits, and the desire to make 
those backward regions an outlet for their surplus products 
and surplus capital, drove the advanced nations into a 
policy of annexation. There began a mad race for colonies 
which awoke new rivalries and jealousies and intensified 
old animosities among the nations. Northern Africa and 
Western Asia, the chief scenes of clashing European am- 
bitions, more than once brought the world to the verge 
of war. 

The commercial rivalry between the two most indus- 
trialized nations, England and Germany, constituted an- 
other source of danger to peace. Fear on the Commercial 
part of England that she was being outdistanced rivalr y be- 
by her rival in various economic fields, and fear land and 
on the part of Germany that the British Empire German y 
would form a customs union to shut out her goods, had the 
effect of sowing the seeds of discord between the two peoples. 
The appearance of a powerful German fleet convinced the 
English that their Empire was in danger; and the entente 
between England and France convinced the Germans that 
the British were plotting their destruction. This mutual dis- 
trust produced an estrangement between the two peoples, 
who for centuries had lived in peace and amity with each 
other. 

The "blood and iron" policy, which had been so suc- 
cessful in unifying Germany, left behind it an evil heritage. 
Force had proved more effective than consti- German 
tutional conventions in the accomplishment of mill tansm 
great policies, and the generation that followed Bismarck 
adopted his methods but not his caution in dealing with the 
problems of its day. A strident militarism, once charac- 
teristic of Prussia only, now took possession of all Germany; 
and the "nation in arms" was drilled in the belief that 
it would some day dim the glories of Sadowa and Sedan. 
The ruling class, the Junkers, whose traditions were feudal 
but whose methods were modern, had organized Germany 



722 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

with the help of the powerful capitalists as a great military, 
political, and economic machine with such scientific pre- 
cision that it could be operated with terrible effect against 
an enemy. The very existence of this machine and the mili- 
taristic temper of those in control constituted a serious 
danger for the peace of the world. 

Military Strength of the Combatants 

Germany's army was easily first in numbers, organiza- 
tion, and equipment. Her peace footing was about 870,- 
. . f h 000, and she could call upon 4,350,000 trained 
Central men in various reserves. The Austro-Hun- 

garian standing army was considerably smaller, 
about 425,000 men, with a possible war footing of 2,300,000. 
Turkey's forces were reorganized after the Balkan wars; 
her peace footing was about 200,000, and for war she had 
available about 1,000,000 men. Bulgaria's standing army 
was 65,000, with a war footing of 200,000. 

The best army on the side of the Allies was that of France, 
with a peace footing of 790,000 men, which could be in- 
Armiesof creased for war purposes to about 3,000,000 men, 
the Allies we \\ trained and fully equipped. Russia had a 
standing army of about 1,500,000, and her Targe popula- 
tion could furnish an almost unlimited supply of soldiers; 
but her forces were poorly organized and badly equipped. 
Italy's peace footing was 300,000, her war footing, 1,500,000. 
England's force was small; it numbered about 250,000; 
but it soon grew, first through volunteering and later 
through conscription, to an efficient army of about 4,000,- 
000. In addition, there was the Japanese army with a peace 
footing of about 250,000 and a war footing of about 1,000,- 
000 which, however, was not used for service in Europe. 
America's peace footing, when she joined the Allies in 191 7, 
was a volunteer force of 90,000 ; but from her large popula- 
tion huge armies could be raised. 

In naval strength, England easily led all the other na- 
tions in the number of ships, organization, and equip- 
ment. Germany came next, with an excellent fleet largely 



THE WORLD WAR 



723 



modeled upon that of England. 1 England's agreement 
with France enabled her to concentrate nearly XT . 

Navies 

all her naval forces in the North Sea. The 
French navy was concentrated in the Mediterranean. 

The methods of warfare have been revolutionized during 
the World War. The strategic marches that used to win 
great victories in the past have been displaced Trench 
almost entirely by the modern strategic railways, warfare 
which transport troops rapidly to critical points from long 
distances. Trench fighting has largely taken the place of 




STRATEGIC RAILWAYS 
IN GERMANY 



, BelfOTt>V q v_--H< r, ''^ haus 

/'SWITZERLAND/ \J~"V — " ~" J 



open battle. The combatants lie hidden in deep trenches 
protected by barbed-wire entanglements and by "nests" 
of machine guns. The lines of trenches stretch over enor- 
mous distances, the Western Front alone being six hundred 
miles long, though the rival armies are often within speak- 

1 The following table gives the naval strength of each Power; only the most 
important warships are listed. 

Dread- Pre-dread- Battle Armored Cruisers 
noughts noughts cruisers cruisers 

I.England 20 40 9 34 74 

2. Germany 13 20 4 9 41 

3. United States .' 8 22 o 11 14 

4. France 4 18 o 20 9 

5. Japan 2 13 2 13 13 

6. Russia O 7 O 6 9 

7. Italy 3 8 o 9 6 

8. Austria-Hungary 3 6 o 2 5 



724 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ing distance of each other. Victorious advance in trench 
warfare is at best very slow. Extensive, sustained, and 
effective artillery fire is generally employed to destroy 
obstructing entanglements before an attack is possible, and 
trench after trench in close succession must be captured 
before appreciable gains are made. The artillery has be- 
come the most important arm of the service; without suf- 
ficient guns and shells no progress is possible. The rifle of 
the common soldier is less useful than formerly, because, 
although the enemy is within short range, he is out of sight. 
Hand grenades, or small bombs, have been found effective. 
The bayonet is now of greater service than formerly, be- 
cause of the frequent hand-to-hand fights. 

The great surprise of the war was the 42-centimeter 
(16-inch) siege gun used by the Germans. This gigantic 
New weapon hurls a shell a ton in weight, filled with 

weapons high explosives, for a distance of fifteen miles 

and more. Machine guns have proved of the utmost effec- 
tiveness, for they are capable of discharging from four to 
five hundred bullets a minute; moreover, they are so light 
that a horse can easily carry one. Another effective form 
of ammunition is shrapnel, a shell containing several hun- 
dred bullets; when fired from a gun, it bursts in the air, 
raining bullets on the heads of the enemy. The use of poi- 
sonous gas is another novel method of fighting; when the 
wind is favorable, a "gas attack" is made by wafting this 
poisonous gas toward the enemy. Gas-filled shells are also 
shot from heavy guns. As a protection against gas, special 
masks are worn. Armored motor trucks, equipped with 
guns, have played a great part in the fighting. Immense 
cars, called "tanks," spitting fire in every direction, charge 
upon the enemy, brushing aside barbed-wire fences and 
crushing those in their path. 

Airplanes have succeeded cavalry as the "eyes of the 
.. . army." They hover over the enemy's lines, 

and Zep- watching every movement, which they report 
pe ms by means of signals. Enormous dirigible bal- 

loons, called Zeppelins after Count Zeppelin, their inventor, 



THE WORLD WAR 725 

have been used by the Germans. They have a carrying 
capacity sufficient to enable them to be manned by a good- 
sized crew and to carry large quantities of explosives. Many 
attacks have been made by Zeppelins upon London and 
other English cities. 

Nothing less than a revolution has been effected in naval 
warfare by the use of the submarine. This is a vessel that 
submerges beneath the water and directs its _ . 

, r . ,, bubmannes 

movements by means of a periscope which 
projects above the water. The submarine discharges a tor- 
pedo which travels under water; when the torpedo strikes 
the vessel at which it is aimed, it explodes, tearing a hole 
in her side and causing her to sink. 

First Year of the World War 
(August, 1914 — July, 1915) 

The German mobilization was marvelously efficient. 
Millions of men fell into place and were transported to 
the frontiers, everything moving with the regu- Dash for 
larity of clock-work. Germany's plan of cam- Pans 
paign was to make a swift descent upon Paris, to reduce 
France to submission, and then to turn on Russia. The 
quickest way to accomplish this was by crossing Belgium, 
because there were few French fortresses on the Belgian 
frontier; whereas the route taken by the German armies in 
1870 was now so strongly fortified all the way from Verdun 
to Belfort as to make a rapid march in this direction well- 
nigh impossible. 

On Liege, in Belgium, fell the shock of the first German 
attack. After three days of heavy bombardment, the city 
was forced to surrender, on August 7, and the Earl 
forts yielded soon afterward. The Belgian army German 
then made a desperate stand at Louvain, but this 
place, too, was taken. On August 20, the Germans entered 
Brussels without firing a shot. But the road to France was 
not yet open; the Belgians were joined by the French and 
by an expeditionary force of British under General Sir 
John French, who together opposed the German forces. At 



726 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Namur and again at Mons (August 22-23), the Allies were 
badly defeated by General von Kluck, the commander of 
the invading army; and they were compelled to retreat 
from Mons to the main French line. Nothing now seemed 
able to stop Von Kluck's march toward Paris. City after 
city was taken; and, at one time, the Germans were within 




fifteen miles of Paris. Consternation reigned in the capi- 
tal, and the French Government moved to Bordeaux. 

At this critical moment, General Joffre, the commander- 
in-chief of the French forces, executed a brilliant stroke. 
Battle of A new army, which had been hurriedly pre- 
the Marne p are d in Paris, was suddenly launched at the 
German right flank. By this time the Germans were across 



THE WORLD WAR 727 

the Marne River. Von Kluck turned back to meet the new 
attack, and at the same time the French General Foch 
drove back the center of the German line by a bold attack. 
Then followed the great Battle of the Marne (September 
6-10), in which the Germans were badly defeated; and they 
retreated as rapidly as they came, with the French at their 
heels. They retired as far as the Aisne River, to trenches 
which had been prepared in advance to receive them. Gen- 
eral J off re's great victory saved Paris and perhaps the 
cause of the Allies. 

The position of the military forces after the retreat from 
the Marne left a gap of about one hundred miles in the line 
from Arras to the sea ; and both sides rushed to- Conquest 
ward it. In order to reach it, the Germans had of Bel s ium 
first to take Antwerp, one of the best fortified cities in 
Europe ; but their 42-centimeter guns easily battered down 
its fortifications, and the city fell on October 9. The Ger- 
mans now made a dash for Dunkirk and Calais; but the 
French and English reached the gap first and extended their 
line to Nieuport, on the coast. 

Belgium, now almost entirely in the hands of the Ger- 
mans, was made to pay dearly for her resistance. Many 
of her cities were reduced to ruins, her fields Sufferings 
were laid waste, her leading citizens were exe- of Bel § lum 
cuted or imprisoned, and her commerce and industry were 
ruined. A once prosperous and happy people was reduced 
to beggary and starvation; and, had it not been for the 
generous help of the Allies and America, many more would 
have perished. The Germans have been accused of de- 
liberately committing frightful outrages on the hapless 
Belgians because their resistance had played an important 
part in frustrating the German plans. Louvain, with its 
beautiful buildings and fine university, was partly reduced 
to ashes. The beautiful cathedral at Rheims, in France, was 
bombarded by the Germans and almost ruined. The whole 
civilized world has been unanimous in its condemnation 
of these unexpected barbarities. 

Because of long distances, lack of railways, and bad or- 



728 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

ganization, it was expected that the Russian mobilization 
. . would be painfully slow. Germany's plan of 

Russian in- ^ J m . 

vasion of campaign was predicated on that assumption. 
Germany g ut tne Russians astonished the world by the 
rapidity of their mobilization. Their plan was to have one 
army invade East Prussia and another, Galicia; these two 
were then to form a continuous line, reaching from the Bal- 
tic to the Carpathian Mountains, that would sweep into 
Germany. The first army invaded East Prussia, where it 
gained several victories. This greatly alarmed the Germans ; 
and a large army under the command of General von Hin- 
denburg was sent to meet it. On August 29 was fought the 
great Battle of Tannenberg, which resulted in a crushing 
defeat for the Russians. They were driven headlong out of 
East Prussia as a result of the remarkable strategy of the 
German general. The Battle of Tannenberg was one of the 
greatest victories of the War, and Von Hindenburg became 
the popular hero of Germany and Austria. 

The Russian invasion of Galicia was more successful. 
Lemberg was captured about August 20, and the Austrians 
Conquest were compelled to fall back on two great for- 
of Galicia tresses, Jaroslav and Przemysl, both of which 
were, before the winter was over, forced to surrender to 
the victorious Russians. By March, 191 5, the latter were 
masters of Galicia. 

To relieve the Russian pressure on the Austrians, Von 
Hindenburg began a counter-offensive by invading Poland. 
r The Russians were strongly intrenched along 

invasion the Vistula River, at Novo Georgievsk, War- 
saw, and Ivangorod. Owing to vastly superior 
equipment, Von Hindenburg's armies compelled the Rus- 
sian lines to fall back rapidly to escape from being en- 
trapped. Warsaw fell on August 4, 1915. Other important 
cities fell into the hands of the Germans: Bialystok, Brest- 
Litovsk, Kovno, Grodno, and Vilna. The Germans pre- 
pared to march on Petrograd, but they were halted by the 
Russian trenches in front of Riga. It has been estimated 
that Von Hindenburg's "drive" cost the Russians about a 



THE WORLD WAR 



729 






THE 
EASTERN FRONT 




million and a half men, as well as an enormous amount of 
stores. 

In the meantime German and Austrian armies under 
General von Mackensen were preparing "drives" ^ 

. . . Russians 

against the Russians in Galicia. During May- driven out 

June, 1915, a series of great battles was fought, 

the most important being that of San River, in which the 



730 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Russians were again decisively beaten. They were driven 
out of Galicia and were compelled to relinquish the great 
strongholds, Lemberg, Jaroslav, and Przemysl. - General 
von Mackensen's popularity in Germany was now second 
only to that of Von Hindenburg. After the invasions and 
counter-invasions in the East came to an end, the new 
battle line in this region extended from the Gulf of Riga to 
Czernowitz, on the Rumanian frontier. 

Early in February, 191 5, a bold and hazardous cam- 
paign was undertaken to capture Constantinople. The suc- 
Dardanelles cess of this campaign was expected to have far- 
campaign reaching consequences: it would bring all the 
Balkan nations to the side of the Allies, and Austria could 
then be attacked from the south; and the control of the 
straits would enable Russia to send much-needed food to 
her allies and to receive ammunition, which she greatly 
lacked . 

A large fleet of English and French warships attacked 
the forts at the entrance of the Dardanelles, causing their 
abandonment by the Turks. The fleet then steamed to the 
"Narrows," the narrowest part of the strait, both sides of 
which had been strongly fortified. A terrific battle followed 
between the ships and the forts, with the result that the 
fleet lost several of its largest vessels and was obliged to 
withdraw. A land attack was next tried. An army of Eng- 
lish, "Anzacs," x and French, under the command of Gen- 
eral Sir Ian Hamilton, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. 
The Turks, commanded by the German, General Liman 
von Sanders, defended themselves behind impregnable posi- 
tions. The advance of the Allies was very slow and at 
great cost. Several other warships were blown up in the 
strait. The capture of Constantinople was now considered 
impossible. By December, 191 5, greatly to the disappoint- 
ment of the Allies who had entertained high hopes of its 
success, the Dardanelles expedition was abandoned. 

Italy had declared her neutrality because she believed 
that Germany and Austria had entered on an aggressive 

1 The name applied to Australians and New Zealanders. 



THE WORLD WAR 



73i 



war; the Triple Alliance bound her to aid them in a de- 
fensive war only. Italy found herself in a trying i ta i y joins 
position: were she to join Germany, her exposed the Allies 
coasts would be laid waste by the fleets of the Allies; were 
she to join the latter, the vengeance of Germany would 
fall upon her in case of a Teutonic victory. The widespread 
demand for Italia irredenta, Trieste and Trentino, to com- 




THE 
ITALIAN FRONT 



plete the unification of Italy, caused the Government to 
begin negotiations with Austria with the object of getting 
those territories without war. These negotiations not prov- 
ing satisfactory, the Government yielded to the popular 
demand that Italy join the Allies. On May 23, 1915, she 
declared war upon Austria. Italian armies immediately 
marched against Trieste and Trentino. In order to capture 
the former, a large force gathered on the Isonzo River and 
laid siege to Gorizia, which capitulated on August 9, 191 6, 
after a long siege. 

Second Year of the World War 
(August, 1 91 5 — July, 1916) 

At the opening of the second year of the War, the situa- 
tion was favorable to the Central Powers. In the West, 
they held Belgium and the industrial section of France, 



732 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

especially valuable because of the coal and iron mines; in 
The "war the East, Poland, Grodno, Suwalki, Vilna, Cour- 
ma P" land, and Western Volhynia, an area as large 

as England and Scotland. As an offset to these gains, the 
Allies had seized Kiau-chau, had swept Germany's com- 
merce from the seas, and held her in a tight blockade; Italy 
was now on the side of the Allies. The "war map" was, in- 
deed, favorable to Germany; yet she was by no means suc- 
cessful, for there was not the slightest inclination on the 
part of her foes to sue for peace. One great German failure 
stood out clearly, the Battle of the Marne, which had nul- 
lified Germany's plans for a swift and smashing victory. 
The wonderful resistance of the French, their valor, their 
silent heroism, and their grim determination won world- 
wide admiration. 

On the Western Front the repulse of the Germans at 
the Marne was followed by a period of unremitting trench 
Western warfare. The enormous battle line, six hundred 
Front miles long, stretching from Nieuport to the 

Swiss frontier, embraced a small portion of Belgium, the 
northeastern section of France, and a strip of Alsace. The 
line was divided into three sectors: the first, from Nieuport 
to the Oise River; the second, from the Oise River to Ver- 
dun; and the third, from Verdun to the Swiss frontier. 

Undaunted, the Germans decided upon another great 
effort to break the French line. Overlooking the Meuse 
T7 , Valley is the city of Verdun, splendidly defended 

Verdun . J 1 r J 

by rings of fortresses on the surrounding hills. 
It was a place of great strategic importance, threatening 
Lorraine, the chief iron region of Germany. Enormous 
German armies under the Prussian Crown Prince were 
massed in the vicinity of Verdun. The battle began in 
February, 191 6, and raged for over six months, during which 
about half a million men laid down their lives. The Ger- 
mans were determined to take the city at any cost, and 
the French, to defend it at any cost. During the early part 
of June, the Germans succeeded in making a breach in 
the outer ring of fortifications by taking Douaumont and 



THE WORLD WAR 733 

Vaux, two important fortifications. They had already cap- 
tured other important forts. But the French were all the 
more determined to hold on. lis ne passeront pas! (They 
shall not pass !) was the cry that rang throughout France. 
Reinforcements were poured in, and the Germans were 
checked. In July an Allied offensive on the Somme relieved 
the pressure on Verdun. By December General Nivelle 
succeeded in driving the Germans out of nearly all the forts 
that they had captured. For his heroism and great ability 
in defending Verdun, General Nivelle was made (Decem- 
ber 11) commander-in-chief of all the French armies, suc- 
ceeding General Joffre. Verdun marked the second great 
failure of Germany to conquer France. 

Russia's humiliating defeats had by no means either 
exhausted or dismayed her. As soon as her armies were 
in better condition she began a new offensive. Eastern 
Early in June, 191 6, a large Russian force under Front 
General Brusilov attacked the Germans and Austrians on 
a two hundred and fifty mile front, from the Pripet River 
in Russia to the Pruth in Galicia. Lutsk and Czernowitz 
were captured by the Russians ; and they entered upon the 
conquest of Bukowina. Brusilov's "drive," although it 
succeeded in pushing back the Teutonic line from twenty to 
fifty miles and in capturing many men and stores, was 
however unable to deprive the Germans of the great gains 
made by Von Hindenburg. 

At the outbreak of the War, Austrian armies had invaded 
Serbia and had captured Belgrade. But the Serbians, 
aided by the Montenegrins, fought stubbornly; 
and by the middle of December, 191 4, they had 
succeeded in driving the Austrians out of Serbia, and even 
in invading Austria. 

Bulgaria's leaning to the side of Germany now became 
evident. On October 14, 191 5, she entered the war on the 
side of the Central Powers by declaring war on Serbia. She 
was actuated in this move more by hatred of Serbia than 
by love for the Teutons. Serbia was now invaded from two 
sides, by Germans and Austrians under Von Mackensen 



734 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

from the north, and by Bulgarians from the east. By the 
end of 1 91 5 she was completely conquered, all her armies 
having been captured or destroyed except for a brave rem- 
nant that reached the Adriatic by a march across Albania. 
Montenegro and Northern Albania were also conquered. 
The annihilation of Serbia removed the only enemy inter- 
vening between the Teutonic and Ottoman dominions; and 
the line of communication from Berlin to Constantinople 
was now open. 

In October, 191 5, an Anglo-French force gathered at 
Saloniki, in Greece. The latter protested against the occu- 
pation of this city by the Allies as a violation of her sov- 
ereignty; but the Allies replied that Venizelos, former 
Prime Minister, who was now leading the opposition to 
King Constantine's policy of neutrality, had invited them 
to help Serbia against Bulgaria. The Allied army marched 
north to aid the Serbians, but it was driven back to Saloniki. 
On March 9, 191 6, Germany declared war against Por- 
tugal because the latter had seized German ships 
interned in her harbors. The Portuguese joined 
the Allies by sending an army to the Western Front. 

Third Year of the World War 
(August, 1916 — July, 191 7) 

During the second half of 191 6, there took place the long- 
drawn-out Battle of the Somme between the British under 
Western Haig and the Germans under Von Hindenburg. 
Front j n ^g beginning of July the British began to 

attack along the line stretching south from Arras to the 
Somme River and, after desperate fighting, won a few miles 
of territory. Their advance was finally checked by fierce 
German counter-attacks and by bad weather, which 
turned the region into a sea of mud; but, although the 
Battle of the Somme resulted in little direct gain, indirectly 
it relieved the pressure on Verdun and so enabled the 
French to drive the Germans out of all the important 
places before that city. It had an unexpected effect, how- 
ever, when in the middle of March, 191 7, the German army 



THE WORLD WAR 735 

on the Somme, without waiting for a new British attack, 
executed a general retirement to what was called the Hin- 
denburg Line. They retreated on a hundred mile front, from 
Arras to east of Noyon, and evacuated about a thousand 
square miles of French territory. In their retreat, the 
Germans destroyed and devastated the region. The new 
German line stretched from east of Arras to St. Quentin and 
was strongly fortified. The Germans stated that the reason 
for their retirement was that they wished to straighten 
their line in order to defend it more effectively. 

During April- June, 191 7, the British began an offensive 
with the object of capturing Lens, an important coal center, 
and St. Quentin, the end of the Hindenburg Line. They 
succeeded in capturing some high ground, notably Vimy 
Ridge, but German counter-offensives brought the British 
to a halt before Lens and St. Quentin. 

Rumania, influenced by Brusilov's success and by the 
French resistance at Verdun, decided to make common 
cause with the Allies. On August 27, 1916, she m „ „ 

• a W • The Balkans 

declared war upon Austria. A Rumanian army 
invaded the Hungarian province of Transylvania, where it 
gained several successes. But their triumph was short- 
lived. Large armies under Von Mackensen and Von Falk- 
enhayn invaded Rumania and won a series of brilliant vic- 
tories, the most notable being that of Hermannstadt. On 
December 6, the Teutons entered Bucharest in triumph. 
Nearly all of Rumania was now at their feet, the country 
having been conquered in three weeks. 

The fate of Rumania was a warning to Greece, and Con- 
stantine used it to insist that she remain neutral. The 
Allies had dealt patiently with Constantine, in spite of his 
failure to live up to his treaty obligations to help Serbia 
against Bulgaria. But finally, in June, 191 7, they deposed 
him in favor of his second son, Alexander. Venizelos, who 
had been in control of the Greek interests in Saloniki, be- 
came Prime Minister. On June 29, Greece formally joined 
the Allies. 



736 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

The War in Asia and Africa 
(August, 1914 — July, 1917) 

Germany's stronghold in the Far East, Kiau-chau, was 
a magnificently fortified naval base containing the fortress 
Ta anese °^ Tsing-tau. When war was declared by Japan, 
capture Germans from all over the Far East nocked to 

the defense of Kiau-chau. In the latter part of 
August, 1 914, the harbor was blockaded by a Japanese 
fleet; and an army was landed on the coast at the same time 
with the object of making an attack both by land and by 
sea. The Germans held out till November 10, when they 
capitulated to the Japanese, who promised to give Kiau-chau 
back to China, to whom it had formerly belonged. Japan 
had also seized the German islands in the Pacific north of 
the equator; but the Australians anticipated any action by 
her in the southern Pacific by seizing quickly the German 
colonies there. 

In Western Asia a campaign was planned by the British 
to capture Bagdad. In the fall of 191 5, an expedition under 
B . . , . General Townshend, starting from India, pene- 
vade Meso- trated two hundred miles into Mesopotamia, 
po amia capturing the city of Kut-el-Amara. Large 
Turkish forces then besieged the British in this city; and 
finally, in April, 191 6, they forced General Townshend to 
surrender with his entire army of ten thousand men. But 
the British were determined to capture Bagdad. In Janu- 
ary, 191 7, another and larger British expedition, under 
General Maude, again invaded Mesopotamia. Kut-el- 
Amara was recaptured, and, on March II, the British 
entered Bagdad in triumph. 

Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander of the Russian 
v . forces in the Caucasus, invaded the Turkish 

Russian sue- _ ' 

cess in province of Armenia early in 191 6. He defeated 

several Turkish armies and captured the large 
city of Erzerum. 

The German colonies in West Africa, Togo and Kamerun, 
were quickly seized in 1914-15 by British and French troops. 



THE WORLD WAR 737 

German Southwest and Southeast Africa were a more seri- 
ous problem. The Germans counted on a revolt ~ , 

r m Capture of 

of the Boers to help them, but the rebellion the German 
they fomented was easily quelled by the energy coonies 
of the Premier, General Botha, the former Boer general; 
and upon its collapse the neighboring German Southwest 
Africa was soon conquered by the South African troops. 
The conquest of German East Africa, mainly a vast tract 
of tropical jungle, was more difficult; but Botha's colleague, 
General Smuts, finally drove the last German troops out of 
it early in 191 7. 

Naval Operations 

The mobilization of the British fleet was as wonderfully 
efficient as was that of the German army. Germany's coast 
was immediately blockaded, her commerce was Services of 
swept from the seas, and most of her navy, being fl e l t t oYhe 
compelled to remain under the protection of Allies 
the forts in Kiel Harbor, was reduced to impotence. The 
British navy rendered incalculable service to the cause of 
the Allies by cutting off supplies to Germany from abroad 
and by making safe the transportation of troops and sup- 
plies from one Allied country to another. It may be as- 
serted that the victories gained by the German armies were 
largely nullified in their influence upon general events by 
England's control of the seas. 

Germany's reply to the British blockade was to declare 
the British coast in a state of blockade. Her only means 
of enforcing it was the U-boat, or submarine, 
which, at times, proved a formidable weapon, for 
many Allied and neutral merchantmen were sunk. When, 
in February, 191 5, the German Government commandeered 
the food supply of the country, England declared food 
contraband of war. Germany met this blow by declaring 
that the waters around the British Isles constituted a "war 
zone," wherein enemy merchantmen would be subject to 
destruction. Neutral ships were warned against entering 
the "war zone," for, owing to the misuse of neutral flags, 



738 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

they ran the risk of being sunk. Germany justified this 
decree on the ground that England was attempting to 
starve her civil population. England's answer was that the 
German Government, in controlling the food supply, was 
regulating it with military ends in view. On March 15, 
191 5, Great Britain still further extended her blockade, 
strictly regulating commerce with the neutral countries near 
Germany on the ground that the latter was the final des- 
tination of much of it. This new order seriously affected 
Germany, as she had been getting considerable supplies 
through Holland, Denmark, and Sweden. 

When the war broke out, there were a number of Ger- 
man warships on the high seas, which succeeded in inflict- 
German ing serious losses on Allied commerce before 
raiders their careers were cut short. The most famous 

of these raiders was the Emden, whose daring and resource- 
ful captain sailed the South Asian seas, sinking many ves- 
sels and skillfully eluding his pursuers. The Emden was 
finally sunk on November 9, 1914, by an Australian war- 
ship. Now and then German cruisers would slip through 
the blockade to prey upon Allied commerce; some even 
were bold enough to shell towns on the British coast. On 
September 22, 191 4, a German submarine sunk three large 
British warships within one hour. 

The first important naval battle occurred in November, 
1914, off the coast of Chili, in which the British were badly 
Naval defeated by a German fleet under Admiral von 

battles Spee. A month later, however, this German 

fleet was overtaken and totally destroyed near the Falkland 
Islands by the British under Admiral Sturdee. The greatest 
naval battle in all history, from the point of view of ton- 
nage and armament, took place on May 31, 191 6, off the 
coast of Jutland. Taking advantage of a fog, the German 
High Seas Fleet, under Admiral von Scheer, slipped out of 
Kiel Harbor and was met by the British battle-cruiser 
squadron under Admirals Jellicoe and Beatty. What fol- 
lowed was a gigantic conflict between the two greatest 
fleets in the world. Accounts of the battle differ; both sides 



THE WORLD WAR 739 

suffered heavy losses, and both claimed victory. The Ger- 
man fleet was, however, obliged to return to Kiel Harbor, 
and England's mastery of the seas remained unbroken. 

One of the most serious problems confronting the Allies 
was the loss of shipping, due to the activities of the German 
submarines. In spite of efforts to replace the The loss of 
losses through the building of new ships, the shi PP in g 
problem was not solved at the opening of 191 8. On March 
21, 1918, an official British statement was issued on the 
condition of shipping. It showed that, for the period be- 
tween August, 1914, and January, 1918, over 11,800,000 
gross tons of Allied and neutral shipping had been sunk, 
and that over 6,600,000 tons had been built to replace the 
loss. The maximum losses occurred during the second quar- 
ter of 1 91 7; but during the last quarter of 191 7 the losses 
were lighter and the increase in shipbuilding greater. 

The United States and the War 

At the beginning of 191 7 the only great neutral Power 
was the United States. As each of the combatants was 
eager to get supplies from America, and even . . , 
more eager that the other should not get them, the English 
the position of the United States was difficult. oc a e 
On December 26, 19 14, President Wilson sent a protest 
to England because of her interference with American 
trade. England's reply was that she had no intention of 
interfering with legitimate neutral trade, but that the 
enormous increase of the American shipments to the neutral 
countries of Europe proved that many of the cargoes 
were destined for her enemy ; she furthermore declared her 
willingness to make full reparation for all injury that she 
might do to neutral commerce. On October 21, 191 5, Presi- 
dent Wilson sent another vigorous protest to Great Britain 
denouncing her blockade. 

But the situation as regarded Germany was far more seri- 
ous. Germany's method of enforcing her blockade was by 
means of submarines, which generally sunk vessels without 
warning, thereby causing loss of life as well as of property. 



740 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

International law, however, required that a ship must be 
A . , warned before being sunk, and that the lives of 

America and ° 

the German her passengers and crew must be safeguarded 
in every way possible. The establishment of a 
"war zone" by Germany brought a protest from President 
Wilson, who declared, on February 10, 191 5, that the 
United States would hold Germany to a "strict account- 
ability" for American ships sunk or for the loss of Ameri- 
can lives. But Germany paid little or no attention to the 
warning. About a week before the warning, an American 
vessel, the William P. Frye, had been sunk; on March 28, a 
British steamer, the Falaba, was sunk, and an American was 
drowned; and on May 1, an American ship, the Gulflight, 
was sunk. 

On May 7 there took place a tragedy that sent a thrill 
of horror throughout the entire world. The British liner 
Th Lusitania was torpedoed without warning near 

Lusitania the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat. She 
sank almost immediately with nearly all on 
board. About 11 50 innocent persons, men, women, and 
children, were drowned, among them many Americans. 
The ruthlessness of this act caused President Wilson to send 
(May 13) a sharp protest to Germany, denouncing the 
sinking of the ship as a violation of international law and 
of the rights of humanity and demanding that Germany 
disavow the act and make full reparation. He declared that 
the United States would not "omit any word or act" to 
maintain the right of neutrals to travel on their legitimate 
business anywhere on the high seas. Germany's defense 
was that warning had been given through advertisements 
in the American papers, advising neutrals not to sail on the 
Lusitania, that the latter was armed and carried ammuni- 
tion, and that her sinking too quickly to save the passen- 
gers was due to an internal explosion. America's rejoinder 
flatly denied that the vessel had been armed or carried mu- 
nitions, and demanded proof of these allegations from Ger- 
many; and it scouted the idea that the advertisements 
constituted a "warning" in the proper sense of the term 



THE WORLD WAR 741 

as used in international law. The sinking of the Lusitania 
like the violation of the neutrality of Belgium solidified 
world opinion in the belief that Germany was a lawless na- 
tion, who would commit any act which she thought would 
bring victory to her side. 

During 191 6 the submarine question came prominently 
to the fore in the relations between Germany and the 
United States. An announcement by Germany Submarine 
stated that, beginning with March 1, 1916, her lssue 
submarines would sink merchant vessels without warning. 
President Wilson, supported by Congress, replied that 
America would insist on the right of her citizens to travel 
anywhere on peaceable errands. 

On March 24, 1916, an English ship, the Sussex, was tor- 
pedoed without warning while crossing the English Chan- 
nel. Among those on board were about seventy- The Sussex 
five Americans, whose lives were endangered. case 
President Wilson immediately protested to Germany. In 
reply the latter denied that a German submarine had sunk 
the Sussex; but she admitted that it had sunk another ves- 
sel at the same time and at the same place. President Wil- 
son then produced proof that the vessel sunk was the Sussex 
and that she had carried no armament. On May 15, Ger- 
many yielded to the American demand on the submarine 
issue, promising that no merchant vessel would be sunk 
without warning unless she attempted to escape or offered 
resistance. But, the note added, America must demand of 
England the restoration of the "freedom of the seas," and, 
if it were not restored, Germany reserved for herself com- 
plete liberty of action. In reply President Wilson accepted 
Germany's promise; but he added that he did not recognize 
that "respect by German naval authorities for the rights 
of the citizens of the United States upon the high seas 
should in any way or in the slightest degree be made con- 
tingent upon the conduct of any other government affect- 
ing the rights of neutrals and non-combatants." 

Suddenly, on January 31, 191 7, Germany announced a 
policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. In an address to 



742 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Congress on February 3, President Wilson announced the 
War be- severance of diplomatic relations between the 
tween Ger- t wo countries. The American Ambassador to 

many and 

the United Berlin, James W. Gerard, was recalled, and the 
German Ambassador to Washington, Count 
von Bernstorff, was dismissed. During the next month the 
United States pursued a policy of "armed neutrality." 
Meanwhile an incident took place which greatly aroused 
the American people. The American Secretary of State, 
Robert Lansing, published an intercepted dispatch from 
the German Foreign Secretary to the German Minister to 
Mexico, proposing an alliance between Germany and Mexico 
and promising to aid the latter in regaining Texas, New 
Mexico, and Arizona. Japan was also to be asked to join 
this alliance against the United States. 

On April 3, President Wilson delivered a message to Con- 
gress which resounded throughout the world. It is a ter- 
rible indictment of the German Government for its viola- 
tion of international law and for its inhumane practices. 
He denounced it as autocratic, irresponsible, and untrust- 
worthy and as a menace to civilization ; and called upon the 
American people to make war upon this dread Power in 
order "to make the world safe for democracy." He also 
declared that America had no quarrel with the German peo- 
ple and that she desired no annexations or indemnities for 
herself. On April 6, Congress declared war upon Germany. 
On December 8, it declared war on Austria-Hungary. In 
regard to Turkey and Bulgaria, diplomatic relations only 
were broken. 

The Russian Revolution 

The attitude of America toward the War was largely in- 
fluenced by an event in Russia of world significance, the 
lir . , . overthrow of the Tsar and the establishment of 

Dark in- 
fluences" a Republic. There had been much criticism of 

the Government by the Russian Liberals, who 
blamed the incompetence and corruption of the adminis- 
tration for Russian defeats. Even treason was charged 



THE WORLD WAR 743 

against some of the officials. It was well known that there 
was a powerful pro-German party at the Court, which was 
trying to persuade the Tsar to conclude a separate peace 
with Germany. Premier Sturmer himself was distrusted. 
The War Minister, Soukhoumlinov, was accused of treason 
and imprisoned. Patriotic Russians were convinced that 
"dark influences" in high places were working in the inter- 
est of Germany. Because of the incompetence of the central 
government, the Union of Zemstvos, under the presidency 
of Prince Lvov, became active in organizing Russia's re- 
sources. 

The Tsar, but more especially the Tsarina, was under 
the influence of a monk, Rasputin, who was thought to be 
in German pay. Rasputin was murdered by a Overthrow 
group of patriots. There was a rumor that the of the Tsar 
Tsar was meditating a separate peace which aroused the 
indignation of all parties, even of the Conservatives, and 
a coalition was formed in the Duma with the object of 
overthrowing the Tsar. However, the real beginning of the 
Revolution came from the working people of Petrograd. In 
February, 191 7, a strike broke out in the capital; and the sol- 
diers, instead of attacking the strikers, fraternized with them. 

It was now evident that the army was sympathetic with 
the revolutionary movement. The Duma then took mat- 
ters in hand and voted to establish a Provisional Govern- 
ment. The Revolution quickly gathered momentum and on 
March 15, 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. This was the 
end of the Romanov dynasty, that had reigned in Russia 
for over three centuries. 

A Provisional Government was organized, headed by a 
liberal noble, Prince Lvov, which contained Gutchkov, the 
Octobrist, Miliukov, the Constitutional Demo- Provisional 
crat, Kerensky, the Social Revolutionist, and Government 
Tcheidze, the Social Democrat. 1 It was essentially a Liberal 
Government; and during the latter part of March a series 
of important reforms was announced. The constitution 
of Finland was restored ; autonomy was granted to Poland ; 

1 For a description of Russian political parties, see pp. 557 ff . 



744 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

the anti-Jewish 'laws were repealed; and complete civil, 
political, and religious liberty was decreed. A general am- 
nesty was issued to political prisoners, and many revolu- 
tionists returned from long exile in Siberia. On the subject 
of the War, the Provisional Government declared its firm 
adherence to the cause of the Allies and its intention to con- 
tinue the war against the Central Powers. 

Once the Revolution was initiated, a momentum was 
given to radicalism of all kinds, that had long been held in 
Council of check by the Tsar. All through Russia the So- 
Working- cialists organized Soviets, or committees rep- 
men s and . 
Soldiers' resenting workingmen and soldiers, the most 

Delegates important of which was the Petrograd Council 
of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Delegates. An active pro- 
paganda was begun by these bodies among the soldiers with 
the object of committing the army, which had been chiefly 
instrumental in overthrowing the Tsar, to the cause of so- 
cialism. This resulted in the progressive disorganization of 
the Russian armies. Discipline was relaxed, and the sol- 
diers began to elect their officers and to intimidate those 
not in sympathy with their ideas. At the front, the Rus- 
sian troops began to fraternize with the enemy. The Pet- 
rograd Council became a rival of the Provisional Govern- 
ment, which lacked the military power necessary to make 
its will effective. The Council declared itself in favor of 
revolutionary social changes, such as giving the land to 
the peasants and the factories to the workingmen. In re- 
gard to the World War, it declared for an immediate 
general peace on the basis of "no annexations and no in- 
demnities" and on the right of all peoples to "self-deter- 
mination," or their right to determine their own political 
fate. Among the Socialists in the Soviets, two elements 
were struggling for mastery; the radical Bolsheviki, or 
Maximalists, who desired the immediate and complete 
realization of the socialist ideal, and the moderate Men- 
sheviki, or Minimalists, who would be satisfied to see in 
practice the minimum of their demands. 

The influence of the Council was rapidly overshadowing 



THE WORLD WAR 745 

that of the Provisional Government. Miliukov and Gutch- 
kov were accused of being imperialists and com- 
pelled to resign on May 16, and Socialists were 
appointed in their places. The rising figure in the reor- 
ganized Government was the Minister of War, Alexander 
Kerensky. Although a Socialist, Kerensky attempted to 
steer a middle course. He was firmly against a separate 
peace with Germany; but, at the same time, he desired that 
a conference be held by the Allies to formulate their war 
aims. Under his inspiration the Russian army in Galicia 
undertook a new "drive" during the middle of July. It 
succeeded in forcing the Teutons back for a distance of 
ten miles; but this success was fruitless, for mutinies in the 
army enabled the Germans to regain the lost ground. 

On July 22, Kerensky became head of the Provisional 
Government, which adopted the peace plan proposed by 
the Council. The disorganization of Russia was proceeding 
apace. Soldiers were mutinying and killing their officers. 
Thousands were deserting en masse. Various nationalities, 
Finns, Poles, and Ukrainians, all announced their inde- 
pendence of the central government. In addition a violent 
class war was being waged by the Bolsheviki against the 
"bourgeois," or property owners. As in the Revolution of 
1905, extreme Socialists attempted to establish, at one 
stroke, both political democracy and socialism. 1 Kerensky 
was denounced by the Bolsheviki as a traitor to their cause 
because he favored moderation. In spite of his efforts he 
failed to induce the Allies to state their war aims, and this 
meant the failure of his peace plans; he refused to take 
severe measures to restore discipline in the army and 
this emboldened his opponents. The rapid disorganization 
of Russia caused the conservative elements to attempt 
a counter-revolution. An army under General Kornilov 
marched upon Petrograd with the intention of overthrow- 
ing the Provisional Government. It was, however, dis- 
persed. The Germans, taking advantage of the situation, 
captured Riga on September 2 without striking a blow. 

1 See pp. 566 ff. 



746 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

On November 7, Kerensky and the Provisional Govern- 
ment were overthrown by an uprising of the Bolsheviki 
The Bol- ' n Petrograd. A new government was formed, 
sheviki in headed by Nicholas Lenine as Premier and Leon 
Trotzky as Foreign Minister. The Bolsheviki 
announced the following as their program: An immediate 
democratic peace, the confiscation of landed estates, the 
calling of a constitutional convention, and the lodging of 
all final authority in the Soviets. 

On December 16, an armistice was signed between Ger- 
many and the Bolshevik Government at Brest-Litovsk. 
Peace Germany was represented by Dr. von Kiihl- 

parleys mann, Austria by Count Czernin, and Russia 

by Trotzky. Long-drawn-out peace parleys began and, 
at one time, the negotiations were broken off because the 
Germans, contrary to agreement, were transferring their 
troops from the Eastern to the Western Front. Trotzky 
insisted on the adoption of the Bolshevik formula of "no 
annexations and no indemnities," to which the representa- 
tives of the Central Powers agreed. While the negotiations 
were going on, the Russian armies were being demobilized. 
The Germans, on the other hand, continued their advance 
in Russia. On February 19, 191 8, they occupied Dwinsk 
and Lutsk. 

The aim of the Bolsheviki was to inaugurate a social 
revolution throughout the world, which would end the 
Th Uk " World War and bring about a democratic peace. 
They formed a revolutionary army, called the 
Red Guard, which began making war on the "bourgeois" 
throughout Russia. This produced a panic among the con- 
servative elements. The "Little Russians," l occupying the 
southern region generally called Ukraine, decided to secede 
from Bolshevik Russia. The Ukraine established an in- 
dependent government and sent its own representatives to 
Brest-Litovsk to negotiate a separate peace with the Cen- 
tral Powers. The latter gladly welcomed them, and on 
February 9 a treaty of peace was signed by the Central 

1 See p. 529. 



THE WORLD WAR 



747 



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Powers and Ukraine. The terms of this treaty recognized 
the independence of Ukraine and partially fixed its bounda- 
ries; it provided for free trade between them; and, espe- 
cially, it made arrangements for the delivery of agricultural 
and industrial products to the Central Powers. 



748 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

Trotzky hoped to arouse a democratic sentiment in Ger- 
many in favor of a general peace on the basis of "no an- 
_, . nexations and no indemnities." But the Ger- 

Treaty of 

peace be- man people seemed to be satisfied with their 
siaand the" Government, in spite of the fact that it was now 
Central demanding the annexation of Russian territory, 

thus violating the Reichstag resolution of July 
19, 1 91 7, which placed that body on record as opposed 
to forcible annexation of territory. Disgusted with this 
turn of affairs, Trotzky left Brest-Litovsk and announced 
that Russia was at peace with her enemies without a 
treaty. But the Germans were not to be satisfied with- 
out a formal treaty. They responded by overrunning 
Livonia and marching on Petrograd. On March 4, the 
Bolshevik Government was compelled to sign a peace 
treaty with the Central Powers. It provided for the fol- 
lowing: (1) that Russia give up Finland, Esthonia, Livonia, 
Courland, Poland, and Lithuania; (2) that Ukraine be 
recognized as an independent republic; (3) that Batum, 
Erivan, and Kars in the Caucasus be ceded to Turkey; 
and (4) that the Bolsheviki cease their revolutionary pro- 
paganda in the ceded regions. By this treaty Russia lost 
approximately half a million square miles of territory and 
66,000,000 of her population. This treaty with Russia was 
ratified in the Reichstag by an almost unanimous vote, even 
the Social Democrats voting for it. 

Peace Proposals 

On August 1, 1 91 7, Pope Benedict XV issued a state- 
ment proposing peace terms to the belligerent nations. 
The Pope's It proposed that moral force be substituted for 
peace plan physical in human relations and recommended 
arbitration in settling disputes between nations; that arma- 
ments should be reduced ; that the freedom of the seas should 
be established; that no indemnities should be required 
except when "certain particular reasons" justify them; 
that occupied territories should be evacuated; and that 
an examination should be made of territorial claims, as in 



THE WORLD WAR 749 

the case of Alsace-Lorraine and Trentino, and that a set- 
tlement of these claims should be made in accordance with 
the desires of the inhabitants. 

President Wilson, as spokesman for the Allies, replied 
to the Pope's note on August 27. Making a distinction be- 
tween the German Government and the German D . . 

President 

people, he made it clear that it was impossible Wilson's 
to negotiate with the irresponsible and auto- peace p an 
cratic German Government ; but that there was no desire on 
the part of America to crush the German people, since he 
was opposed on general principles to punitive indemnities, 
to the dismemberment of empires, and to economic boy- 
cotts. Then, on January 8, 1918, President Wilson issued 
a more detailed statement of America's war aims. He de- 
clared in favor of the abolition of secret diplomacy, of the 
freedom of the seas, of the reduction of armaments, of the 
evacuation of occupied territories, of the complete restoration 
of Belgium, of the settlement of colonial claims in the inter- 
ests of the inhabitants, of the "righting" of the wrong done 
in 1 87 1 in the Alsace-Lorraine matter, of the readjustment 
of the Italian frontier on the basis of nationality, of the 
establishment of a Polish state consisting of all lands pre- 
dominantly Polish, and of the organization of a League of 
Nations to preserve peace. On February 1 1 , he especially 
emphasized the idea of. nationality, stating that peoples 
should not be "bartered from sovereignty to sovereignty." 
On January 5, 191 8, Lloyd George issued a detailed 
statement of Great Britain's war aims. He declared that 
only the lands predominantly Turkish should be L . , 
permitted to remain under Turkey; that there George's 
should be a "reconsideration" of the wrong P eace P an 
done in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine; that Belgium 
should be completely restored by Germany, politically, 
territorially, and economically; that the Balkan states 
should be restored; that the fate of the German colonies 
should be decided by an international conference according 
to the wishes and interests of the natives; and that a 
League of Nations should be formed to preserve peace. 



750 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

On September 20, 191 7, the Central Powers, in reply to the 
Pope's note, had declared themselves in sympathy with his 
The Ger- a * m *° SUDS titute moral for physical force and 
man peace with his desire for the limitation of armaments 
pan and the freedom of the seas. On January 25, 

191 8, Chancellor von Hertling issued Germany's reply to 
President Wilson's note. He declared that he agreed with 
him in favoring open diplomacy, the freedom of the seas, 
the reduction of armaments, and a League of Nations; and, 
like him, he was opposed to economic boycotts. Regarding 
the Russian provinces conquered by Germany, it was his 
view that that was a matter to be settled by Germany and 
Russia alone; the Italian frontier and the Balkans were 
Austrian matters; the problem of Turkey was a Turkish 
matter; Germany was firmly resolved to keep Alsace-Lor- 
raine; Belgium and Northern France were being held, not 
with the purpose of annexation, but for settlement at the 
Peace Congress. It was evident that the Central Powers 
were determined to keep most of their conquests, thus vio- 
lating the principle of nationality advocated by President 
Wilson and Premier Lloyd George. 

Great Britain during the World War 

The war revealed the deep loyalty of the British colonies 
to the Empire. Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, 
T .. , and South Africans vied with one another in 

Loyalty 01 

the British their devotion to the mother country, and a 
steady stream of colonial volunteers poured into 
Great Britain. England's first attempt to meet the mili- 
tary problem was through voluntary enlistment; and a 
great army was hurriedly raised, drawn from all classes, most 
of whom had no previous experience with military affairs. 
In May, 191 6, a conscription law was passed, which raised 
the British army to about four million. 

Irish disaffection was not removed by the war in spite of 
the patriotic attitude of John Redmond, the leader of the 
Irish Nationalists. 1 In April, 191 6, an outbreak took place 

1 See p. 398. 



THE WORLD WAR 751 

in Dublin under the leadership of the revolutionary Sinn 
Fein society. The rebels proclaimed an Irish The Irish 
Republic and seized several public buildings. u P risin g 
A fierce street battle took place between the revolutionists 
and the troops, which ended in the defeat of the former. 
Their chief leaders, Padraic Pearse and James Connolly, 
were seized and executed. Sir Roger Casement, a fervent 
Irish patriot, who had sought German aid to bring about 
uprisings in Ireland, was captured and executed for treason. 

Asquith's leadership was giving much dissatisfaction, 
and public opinion began to favor displacing him with 
Lloyd George, whose energy and foresight had L1 , r 
won him the confidence of all parties. On De- becomes 
cember 6, 191 6, the Cabinet was reorganized, remier 
and supreme power was lodged in a War Council composed 
of five members: three Conservatives, Bonar Law, Lord 
Curzon, and Lord Milner; one Laborite, Arthur Hender- 
son; and the Liberal Premier, Lloyd George. 

In March, 191 8, a new electoral law was enacted by 
Parliament, which ranks in importance with the Reform 
Bills of 1832, 1867, and 1884. The main pro- The new 
visions were: (1) women over thirty who had electoral l a w 
the right to vote in local elections or whose husbands had 
that right were given the Parliamentary franchise; (2) the 
residence qualification for voters was reduced from one 
year to six months; (3) a single election day was established 
for the United Kingdom; (4) plural voting was reduced 
by a provision that no citizen could vote in more than two 
places; (5) the membership of the House of Commons was 
increased from 670 to 707 ; and (6) a redistribution of seats 
was to be made with the purpose of fairer representation. 
It is estimated that the new law added about eight million 
to the electorate, six million being women. 

Germany during the World War 

At the outbreak of the War all parties rallied to the sup- 
port of the Government. Even the Socialists enthusiasti- 
cally voted for war credits in spite of their professions of 



752 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

internationalism and pacifism. Only one Socialist, Karl 
s . j. Liebknecht, opposed the Government; and he 

support the was for that reason expelled from his party. The 

vernmen s oc i a ij s t s ' support of the Government was due to 
their belief that Germany was defending herself against ag- 
gression by Russia. When it became evident that Germany 
was conducting an aggressive war against England and 
France, about twenty Socialist members of the Reichstag 1 
seceded from their party, and formed a new group, which- 
demanded the immediate cessation of the war. 

On July 14, 191 7, Dr. Georg Michaelis succeeded Dr. 

von Bethmann-Hollweg as Chancellor. There was dis- 

„ . satisfaction among the Centrists and Social- 

Peace resolu- m , ° 

tion of the ists with the Government, and on July 19, 1917, 
these two parties combined in the Reichstag to 
pass a resolution which declared that ' ' the Reichstag labors 
for peace and a mutual understanding and lasting recon- 
ciliation among the nations. Forced acquisitions of terri- 
tory and political, economic and financial violations are 
incompatible with such a peace." Chancellor Michaelis, 
in reply to this resolution, declared that Germany desired 
an "honorable peace" on a give-and-take basis and guar- 
antees for her existence as a European and colonial Power. 
In October, 191 7, Count von Hertling, a prominent Cen- 
trist, succeeded Michaelis as Chancellor. 

France during the World War 

In France the bitter factional quarrels ceased the mo- 
ment that war was declared. Anti-clericals and Catholics, 
All French Republicans and royalists, all formed a union 
port'the" 13 " sacr ^ e to defend the country against attack. The 
Government Unified Socialists, who had long opposed co- 
operation with the bourgeois parties, sent their leaders, 
Guesde and Sembat, into a Coalition Cabinet headed by 
Viviani. They denounced the German Socialists as "traitor 
workingmen" for supporting an aggressive war, and they 
declared that, as France was being attacked by Germany, 

1 See p. 596. 



THE WORLD WAR 753 

there was nothing for them to do but to defend them- 
selves. Jaures, the leader of the French Socialists, was 
assassinated in August, 1914, because he had opposed the 
three years' military law. 

The failure of the Balkan campaign overthrew the Vi- 
viani Ministry; it was succeeded, on October 29, 191 5, by 
one headed by Briand. There was now a thor- ~. 

f ^ Changes in 

ough reorganization of the administrative sys- the Min- 
tem in order to concentrate power and responsi- 
bility. A War Council of five members was appointed 
with full authority to direct affairs. 

In March, 191 7, Ribot succeeded as Premier. He de- 
clared that France would fight unflinchingly for the recov- 
ery of Alsace-Lorraine. In September, Painleve became 
Premier. A German peace propaganda had been organ- 
ized in France by a financier named Bolo Pasha, who had 
succeeded in bribing several newspapers in the interest of 
Germany. The chief figure in the pro-German politics, with 
which this propaganda seemed associated, was the former 
Premier and Radical leader, Caillaux, a man who knew how 
to play politics in France as did few others. For three 
years no government in France ventured to attack Caillaux 
openly; but, in November, 191 7, Clemenceau became 
Premier, and he set actively about to destroy the "de- 
featist" propaganda. Bolo was convicted of high treason 
and executed, and Caillaux was imprisoned to await trail. 

Fourth Year of the World War 
{August, 191 7- ) 

The Italian success on the Isonzo had aroused much 
anxiety in Austria. The Russian Revolution had freed 
many soldiers of the Teutonic Powers from serv- The Italian 
ice on the Eastern Front. Consequently they dlsaster 
were able to launch a great "drive" against the Italians. 
On October 28, 191 7, they threw back the Italian army 
by a surprise attack and retook Gorizia. A precipitate re- 
tirement of the Italian army began, which continued till 
the Piave River was reached. There, aided by French and 



754 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

British troops, the Italians succeeded in checking the 
enemy. The losses of the Italians both in men and guns 
were said to be very great. 

During the latter part of November, 191 7, the British 
made a surprise attack on the German line in the direction 
"Battle °^ Cambrai. General Byng pierced the German 

of the ( line from Arras to St. Quentin and came near 

Cambrai. Many "tanks," were used in this 
battle which was therefore called the " Battle of the Tanks." 
But before the British could consolidate their new posi- 
tions, the Germans delivered a counter-attack, and the 
British were obliged to yield more than half of the terri- 
tory that they had gained. 

On May 6, 191 8, Rumania was forced to sign a treaty 
of peace with the Central Powers. She gave up Dobrudja 
Rumania as far as the Danube ; in return she got part of 
makes peace Bessarabia from Russia ; and the Austro-Hun- 
garian frontier was to be rectified in the interest of the 
Dual Monarchy. 

Meanwhile a British army under General Allenby had 
been operating against the Turks in Palestine. In Novem- 
Capture of ber, 1917, Jaffa was captured. On December 10, 
Jerusalem ^he British succeeded in entering Jerusalem. 
After seven centuries the Holy City was once more in 
Christian hands. 

The peace with Russia gave Germany a free hand in the 
West. It was certain that the World War would have to 
Battle of be decided on the Western Front ; and Ger- 
Picardy many determined to break through, no matter 

at what cost, before America could have time to send large 
armies to France. 

It was evidently the object of the Germans to split the 
British and French forces at their juncture on the Oise 
River; to destroy each separately; to capture the Channel 
ports ; and to capture Paris and to force the French to make 
peace. England would then be left alone to fight a Ger- 
many in control of the entire continent. 

On March 21, 191 8, the Germans launched a terrific 



THE WORLD WAR 755 

attack along the line from Arras to La Fere. The British 
were driven back, losing Peronne, Ham, Bapaume, and 
Albert. On March 28 the French were driven out of Noyon 
and forced to retire at one place south of the Oise River. 
The French were slowly being forced back on a thirty-mile 
front from Lens to the Ailette River. The immediate ob- 
ject of the Germans was to capture Amiens, a great railway 
center. At this critical time, unity of command was estab- 
lished by making the French General Foch chief commander 
of all the Allied forces on the Western Front. 

The attack of the Germans halted on April 1 but began 
again on April 4. The British were forced to retire from La 
Bassee for a distance of ten miles. On April 16 Battle of 
they were forced to retire from Messines and Flanders 
Wytschaete ridges, two important positions guarding Ypres. 
French reinforcements arrived, and for about a week the 
Germans were checked. On April 26 the Germans cap- 
tured Kemmel hill, another important position. Ypres was 
now a "salient," with Germans on three sides of the place. 
Again, French reinforcements came, and the Germans suf- 
fered a severe check. 

On May 27, the Germans suddenly began a great " drive" 
from Noyon to Rheims. They captured an important ridge, 
' Chemin des Dames. On the following day they Battle of 
crossed the Aisne River and captured Fismes. the Alsne 
On May 29, Soissons fell into their hands. The German ad- 
vance was so rapid that on May 31, they reached the 
Marne River. On the following day they gained six miles 
on the line from Soissons to Chateau-Thierry, and were now 
forty-three miles from Paris. Chateau-Thierry fell into 
their hands. But French reserves were poured in and the 
German advance was checked. Altogether, the German 
gain was about 950 square miles. 

Encouraged by their success, the Germans, on June 9, 
began another terrific " drive " from Montdidier to Noyon. 
This time, the Allies were fully prepared to meet Battle of 
them, and the German advance was slow and the 0lse 
at great cost. On June 12, the Germans crossed the Matz 



756 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE 

River, but were hurled back and the "drive" ended. In 
this battle the Americans greatly distinguished themselves 
and gave valuable aid in the counter-offensives which halted 
the Germans. In this "drive" the latter gained only 180 
square miles. 



APPENDIX 



RULERS OF THE EUROPEAN NATIONS SINCE THE 
FRENCH REVOLUTION 



Austria-Hungary 



Leopold II, 1790-1792 
Francis I, 1792-1835 
Ferdinand I, 1 835-1 84 1 



Leopold I, 1831-1865 
Leopold II, 1 865-1909 



Alexander, 1 879-1 886 



Christian VII, 1 766-1 808 
Frederick VI, 1808-1839 
Christian VIII, 1839-1848 
Frederick VII, 1848- 1863 



Francis Joseph, ii 
Charles I, 1916- 



J-1916 



Belgium 

Albert I, 1909- 

Bulgaria 

Ferdinand I, 1886- 

Denmark 

Christian IX, 1863-1906 
Frederick VIII, 1906-1912 
Christian X, 1912- 



France 



Louis XVI, 1774-1792 

The First Republic, 1792-1804 
The Convention, 1 792-1 795 
The Directory, 1 795-1 799 
The Consulate, 1 799-1 804 

The First Empire, 1804-18 14 
Napoleon I, 1804-18 14 

Louis XVIII, 1814-1824 

Charles X, 1 824-1 830 

Louis Philippe, 1 830-1 848 

The Second Republic, 1 848-1 852 
President Louis Napoleon, li 
1852 

The Second Empire, 1 852-1 870 
Napoleon III, 1 852-1 870 



The Third Republic, 1870- 

Government of National Defense, 
1 870-1 87 1 

Presidents: — 

Adolphe Thiers, 1871-1873 
Marshal MacMahon, 1 873-1 879 
Jules Grevy, 1 879-1 887 
F. Sadi-Carnot, 1 887-1 894 
Casimir-Perier, 1 894-1 895 
Felix Faure, 1 895-1 899 
Emile Loubet, 1 899-1 906 
Armand Fallieres, 1906-1913 
Raymond Poincare, 1913- 



Germany 
Kings of Prussia 

Frederick William II, 1786-1797 Frederick William IV, ii 

Frederick William III, 1797-1840 William I, 1861-1888 



10-1861 



758 



APPENDIX 



William I, 1871-1? 
Frederick III, 188 



George III, 1 760-1 820 
George IV, 1 820-1 830 
William IV, 1 830-1 837 



Otto I, 1833-1862 
George I, 1863-19 13 



German Emperors 

William II, if 

Great Britain 



Victoria, 1837-1901 
Edward VII, 1901-1910 
George V, 1910- 



Greece 



Constantine I, 1913-1917 
Alexander I, 19 17- 



Italy 

Kings of Sardinia 



Victor Amadeus III, 1773-1796 
Charles Emanuel IV, 1 796-1 802 
Victor Emanuel I, 1 802-1 821 



Charles Felix, 1821-1831 
Charles Albert, 1 831-1849 
Victor Emanuel II, 1 849-1 861 



Kings of Italy 

Victor Emanuel II, 1861-1878 Victor Emanuel III, 1900- 

Humbert, 1 878-1900 



Montenegro 



Peter I, 1 782-1 830 
Peter II, 1830-1851 



William I, 1813-1840 
William II, 1840-1849 



Danilo I, 1851-1860 
Nicholas I, 1860- 



Netherlands 



William III, 1 849-1 890 
Wilhelmina, 1890- 



Norway 



Same sovereigns as in Denmark till 18 14 

Christian Frederick, 1814 

Same sovereigns as in Sweden, 1814-1905 

Haakon VII, 1905- 



Portugal 



Maria I, 1786-18 16 
John VI, 1816-1826 
Pedro IV, 1826 

(Pedro I of Brazil, 1826-1831) 
Maria II, 1826-1828 
Miguel, 1 828-1 834 
Maria II (restored), 1 834-1 853 



Charles I, 1 866-1914 



Pedro V, 1 853-1 861 

Luiz I, 1861-1889 

Carlos, 1 889-1908 

Manoel II, 1908-1910 

Presidents: — 

Manoel Arriaga, 1911-1915 
Bernardino Machado, 1915-1918 
Sidonio Paes, 1918- 

RUMANIA 

Ferdinand I, 1914- 



APPENDIX 



759 



Catherine II, 1762-1796 
Paul, 1 796-1 80 1 
Alexander I, 1801-1825 
Nicholas I, 1 825-1 855 



Russia 



Alexander II, 1855-1881 
Alexander III, 1881-1894 
Nicholas II, 1894-1917 
Provisional Government, 1917- 



Serbia 



Karageorge, 1 804-1 813 
Milosh, 181 7-1839 
Milan, 1839 
Michael, 1 839-1 842 
Alexander I, 1842-1859 



Charles IV, 1788-1808 
Joseph Bonaparte, 1 808-1 813 
Ferdinand VII, 18 13-1833 
Isabella H, 1833-1868 
Revolutionary Government, 
1870 



Michael, 1 860- 1868 
Milan, 1 868-1 889 
Alexander, 1 889-1903 
Peter I, 1903- 



Spain 



1868- 



Amadeo, 1 870-1 873 
The Republic, 1873-1875 
Alphonso XII, 1875-1885 
Alphonso XIII, 1886- 



Sweden 



Gustavus IV, 1 792-1 809 
Charles XIII, 1809-1818 
Charles XIV, 1818-1844 
Oscar I, 1 844- 1 859 



Selim III, 1789-1807 
Mustapha IV, 1 807-1 808 
Mahmud II, 1808-1839 
Abdul Medjid, 1839-1861 



Charles XV, 1 859-1 872 
Oscar II, 1872-1907 
Gustavus V, 1907- 



TURKEY 



Abdul Aziz, 1861-1876 
Murad V, 1876 
Abdul Hamid II, 1876-1909 
Mohammed V, 1909- 



Pius VI, 1775-1799 
Pius VII, 1800-1823 
Leo XII, 1 823-1 829 
Pius VIII, 1829-1830 
Gregory XVI, 1 830-1 846 



POPES SINCE 1775 

Pius IX, 1 846-1 878 
Leo XIII, 1878-1903 
Pius X, 1903-1914 
Benedict XV, 1914- 



PRIME MINISTERS OF GREAT BRITAIN SINCE 1783 

Viscount Goderich, 1827 



William Pitt, 1783-1801 

Henry Addington (Viscount Sidmouth), 

1801-1804 
William Pitt, 1 804-1 806 
William, Lord Grenville, 1 806-1 807 
Duke of Portland, 1 807-1 809 
Spencer Percival, 1809-18 12 
Earl of Liverpool, 1812-1827 
George Canning, 1827 



Duke of Wellington, 1827-1830 
Earl Gray, 1 830-1 834 
Viscount Melbourne, 1834 
Sir R.obert Peel, 1 834-1 835 
Viscount Melbourne, 1835-1841 
Sir Robert Peel, 1841-1846 
Lord John Russell (Earl Russell), 
184 6-1852 



76o 



APPENDIX 



Earl of Derby, 1852 
Earl of Aberdeen, 1 852-1 855 
Viscount Palmerston, 1 855-1 858 
Earl of Derby, 1858-1859 
Viscount Palmerston, 1 859-1 865 
Earl Russell, 1865- 1866 
Earl of Derby, 1866- 1868 
William Ewart Gladstone, 1868-1874 
Benjamin Disraeli (Earl of Beacons- 
field), 1 874-1 880 
William Ewart Gladstone, 1 880-1 885 



Marquis of Salisbury, 1 885-1 886 
William Ewart Gladstone, 1886 
Marquis of Salisbury, 1886-1892 
William Ewart Gladstone, 1892-189/] 
Earl of Rosebery, 1 894-1 895 
Marquis of Salisbury, 1895-1902 
Arthur James Balfour, 1902-1905 
Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman, 1905- 

1908 
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1908-1916 
David Lloyd George, 191 6- 



CHANCELLORS OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE 



Prince Bismarck, 1871-1890 
Count von Caprivi, 1890-1894 
Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingfurst, 1894- 

1900 
Count von Biilow, 1900-1908 



Doctor Theobold von Bethmann- 

Hollweg, 1908-1917 
Doctor Georg Michaelis, 191 7 
Count von Hertling, 1917- 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

GENERAL 

A great number of books has been written in nearly all the European lan- 
guages on every possible phase of modern and contemporary history. For 
this reason it is not easy to give a selected bibliography of the period; the em- 
barrassment of riches is a burden to the bibliographer who wishes to give 
generously yet wisely. There are other, and more serious, difficulties. In the 
first place, the historians are too close to the men and movements that they 
describe, and their work consequently suffers from a lack of proper perspective 
that time alone can give. It is quite possible therefore that the historian of two 
centuries hence, writing of the nineteenth century, may minimize many 
things considered all-important by the historian of to-day, and he may em- 
phasize many things that are lost sight of by the latter. In the second place, 
there is the ever-present danger of partisanship, conscious or unconscious, on 
the part of the writer, due to his national, racial, religious, or class bias. One 
can now be impartial toward Ramesis II, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, 
and at times even toward Luther; but that is rarely possible toward Bismarck, 
Gladstone, Gambetta, William II, and Lloyd George. It is therefore incum- 
bent upon the reader to be eternally upon his guard when reading modern 
and contemporary history, lest he be impregnated with the bias of the writer. 
In the following bibliography the point of view of the books listed will be indi- 
cated whenever possible. 

Although the number of books treating of special countries, of special 
periods, and of special aspects is large, the number of general histories of the 
period is small. Chief among the latter are two large cooperative histories, one, 
English, the Cambridge Modem History edited by Lord Acton, and the other, 
French, Histoire generate du IV e siecle & nos jours, edited by E. Lavisse and 
A. Rambaud. Both are informing, accurate, and thorough. The various chap- 
ters are written by different historians, some of them distinguished scholars 
in their special fields. But the quality of the work throughout is uneven; and 
there is a lack of unity almost inescapable from a scholarly enterprise of this 
character. Of the two, the Cambridge Modern History is more narrowly politi- 
cal than the Histoire generate ; the latter contains many excellent chapters on 
social and cultural matters. The volumes in the Cambridge Modem History that 
deal with the nineteenth century are vol. x, "The Restoration" (1814-1848), 
vol. XI, " The Growth of Nationalities " (1848-1870), and vol. xn, " The Latest 
Age" (1870-1900). The volumes in the Histoire generate covering the same 
period are vol. x, Les monarchies constitutionnelles (1814-1848), vol. xi, Revolu- 
tion et Guerres nationales (1 848-1 870), and vol. xn, Le Monde contemporain 
(1 870-1900). 

The following are the leading works on the period arranged in order of 
the date of publication: — 

Wilhelm Miiller, Political History of Recent Times, 1816-187$, with Special 
Reference to Germany, translated from the German by J. P. Peters (1882). 
This is now an old book; it is written in a journalistic style from the German 
point of view. 



762 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

C. Bulle, Geschichte der neuesten Zeit, 1815-1885, 4 vols. (1867-87), a care- 
ful and reliable work. 

A. Debidour, Histoire diplomatique de V Europe, 1814-IQ14, 3 vols. (1891- 
19 1 7), a well -arranged, useful study of diplomatic history. 

Sir Edward Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty since 1814. 4 vols. (1875- 
91), an indispensable work for the study of the treaty arrangements of the 
European Powers from the Congress of Vienna to 1891. Contains the texts 
of important treaties. 

C. M. Andrews, The Historical Development of Modern Europe, 1815-1897, 
2 vols. (1896-98), a political and diplomatic history of the leading European 
countries, contains an excellent account of the Revolution of 1848. 

C. Seignobos, A Political History of Europe since 1814, trans, from the French 
by S. M. Macvane (1900), detailed, scholarly, and liberal. It contains good 
chapters on religious matters and on the radical movements of the nineteenth 
century. 

W. A. Phillips, Modern Europe, 1815-1899 (ed. 1902), a brief political history, 
mainly of the period from 181 5 to 1878; emphasizes the diplomatic side. 

F. A. Kirkpatrick (editor), Lectures on the History of the Nineteenth Century 
(1902), contains seven short lectures on various aspects of the subject by dis- 
tinguished scholars. 

A. Stern, Geschichte Europas seit den Vertragen von 1815 bis zum Frankfurter 
Frieden von 1871 (1894-1911), by far the best general history of the period, 
exhaustive, scholarly, and impartial; so far only six volumes have appeared, 
which carry the narrative to 1848. 

J. H. Robinson and C. A. Beard, The Development of Modern Europe, 
2 vols. (1907-1908); vol. 11 deals with the period from 1815 to 1907, and is a 
work in brief compass by two distinguished American historians. It is the 
first manual to appear in America in which the social, economic, and cultural 
factors are treated as well as the political and dynastic. The book is scholarly, 
well written, and progressive in its point of view. 

J. H. Robinson and C. A. Beard, Readings in Modern European History, 
2 vols. (1909), a series of well -selected extracts from the sources. 

C. D. Hazen, Europe since 1815 (1910), the best purely political history of 
its size (about 700 pages). It is reliable, clear, and liberal in its point of view. 
The narrative is carried down to 1910. 

Carlton J. H. Hayes, A Political and Social History of Modern Europe, 2 vols. 
(1916); vol. 11 covers the period from 1815 to the outbreak of the World War. 
This is the newest, and on the whole the most satisfactory, work on the period. 
It is a new synthesis with the object of describing the main currents of nine- 
teenth century European history with special emphasis on social and economic 
matters. It contains excellent chapters on social legislation and on the expan- 
sion of Europe. 

CHAPTER II 

Restoration and Reaction 
General 

A. Debidour, Histoire diplomatique, vol. 1; W. A. Phillips, The Confedera- 
tion of Europe (1914), a good study of the alliances; G. B. Malleson, Life of 
Prince Metternich (1895); Memoirs of Prince Clemens Melternich, edited by 
Prince Richard Metternich, and trans, in part from the German by Mrs. 
Alexander Napier, 5 vols. (1881-82); C. de Mazade, Un chancelier d'ancien 
regime: le regne diplomatique de M. de Metternich (1889); Memoirs of the 
Prince de Talleyrand, trans, from the French by R. L. de Beaufort (1891-92); 
A. Sorel, Essais d' histoire et de critique (1884), contains estimates of the work 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 763 

of Metternich and Talleyrand by a great historian of European diplomacy. 
For a study of the Restoration in the various countries, consult the bibli- 
ographies under these countries. 

CHAPTER III 

The Industrial Revolution 
General 

E. P. Cheyney, An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of 
England (190 1), chs. vil-vm; G. T. Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial 
History (ed. 1912), chs. xv-xvu. There exists no general history of the In- 
dustrial Revolution, most of the books on this subject dealing with England. 
Paul Mantoux, La revolution industrielle au XVIII e siecle (1906), the best 
single study of the subject; H. de B. Gibbins, Industry in England (ed. 
1910), a popular work by a well-known authority; by the same author, Eco- 
nomic and Industrial Progress of the Century (1903), an account of economic 
changes in the important countries of Europe; Arnold Toynbee, Lectures on 
the Industrial Revolution of the Eighteenth Century in England (ed. 1913), a 
series of suggestive essays, first published in 1884, was the first to use the ex- 
pression "Industrial Revolution"; W. Cunningham, The Growth of English 
Industry and Commerce in Modern Times, 3 vols. (ed. 1910-12), vol. in 
covers the period of the Industrial Revolution, a scholarly treatment by the 
leading English authority on the subject. 

Inventions 

E. W. Bryn, The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century (1900); 
R. H. Thurston, History of the Growth of the Steam Engine (ed. 1902), a good 
popular account; M. S. Woolman and E. B. McGowan, Textiles: A Handbook 
for the Student and the Consumer (1913), contains good illustrations; E. A. 
Pratt, A History of Inland Transportation and Communication in England 
(1912); R. S. Holland, Historic Inventions; A. G. S. Josephson, A List of Books 
on the History of Industry and the Industrial Arts (1915). Biographies of the 
inventors, Arkwright, Crompton, Stephenson, and the others may be found 
in the Dictionary of National Biography. 

Results of the Industrial Revolution 

J. A. Hobson, The Evolution of Modern Capitalism : a Study of Machine 
Production (ed. 1917), a comprehensive study of the effects of modern in- 
dustrialism; W. Sombart, Der moderne Capitalismus, 2 vols. (1902), a de- 
tailed account of the methods and results of capitalistic production; Leslie 
Stephen, The English Utilitarians (1900), contains fine descriptions of 
Bentham and Mill; C. Gide and C. Rist, A History of Economic Doctrines 
from the Time of the Physiocrats, trans, from the French by R. Richards 
(1915), an excellent study of laissez faire ideas; Herbert Spencer, Man versus 
the State (1884), a plea for individualism by the great English philosopher and 
sociologist. Informing articles on every phase of modern industrialism may 
be found in R. H. I. Palgrave, Dictionary of Political Economy, 3 vols. (1910- 
13), and in Johannes Conrad, Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaft, 8 vols, 
(ed. 1909-11). 

CHAPTERS IV-V 
England (1815-67) 

General 

There are several excellent histories of England which deal with political 
and parliamentary matters. W. N. Molesworth, The 1 History of England, 



764 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1830-1874, 3 vols. (1874), especially good for the Reform Bill of 1832; J. H. 
Rose, The Rise and Growth of Democracy in Great Britain (1898), an inter- 
esting account of reforms from the Liberal standpoint; J. F. Bright, His- 
tory of England, 5 vols. (1884-1904), vols. IV and v deal with the nineteenth 
century from a fairly impartial standpoint; S. Walpole, History of England 
since 1815, 6 vols. (ed. 1902-05), goes down to 1858 and is continued in an- 
other work, History of Twenty-five Years, 1856-1880, 4 vols. (1904-08), 
scholarly works from the standpoint of a moderate Liberal; H. W. Paul, 
A History of Modern England, 5 vols. (1904-06), a vividly written parlia- 
mentary history from the standpoint of a Gladstonian Liberal, covers the 
period, 1845-95; S. Low and L. C. Sanders, Political History of England, 
1837-iQOi (1907), a good volume for the purely parliamentary side; J. A. 
R. Marriott, England Since Waterloo (1913); Sir Herbert E. Maxwell, A 
Century of Empire, 1801-iQOO, 3 vols. (1909-11), conservative in view- 
point; A. D. Innes, History of England and the British Empire, 4 vols. 
(1913-15), vol. iv covers the period 1802-1914; A. L. Cross, History of 
England and Greater Britain (1914), a textbook which gives a good ac- 
count of nineteenth-century Britain; G. Slater, The Making of Modern 
England (ed. 1915), a series of essays rather than a history, especially val- 
uable for social and economic matters and for bibliography. 

Biographies 

There exist a number of notable biographies of prominent British states- 
men. Chief among them are William Henry Lytton, Life of Sir H. J. Temple, 
Viscount Palmerston, 2 vols. (1871), continued by Evelyn Ashley in vol. 111 
(1874); S. Walpole, Life of Lord John Russell, 2 vols. (1879); John (Viscount) 
Morley, Life of Richard Cobden (1881); Edwin Hodder, Life and Work of the 
7th Earl of Shaftesbury, 3 vols. (1888); G. Wallas, Life of Francis Place, 1771- 
1854 (1898); Earl of Rosebery, Sir Robert Peel (1899); H. de B. Gibbins, 
English Social Reformers (1902), contains sketches of Wesley, Wilberforce, 
Kingsley, and the factory reformers; E. I. Carlyle, William Cobbett; A 
Study of his Life as Shown in his Writings (1904); F. Podmore, Life of Robert 
Owen, 2 vols. (1906); Sir G. O. Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord 
Macaulay, 2 vols. (1876), one of the great biographies in the English lan- 
guage. 

Constitutional Reforms 

The two best books on the Reform Bill of 1832 are E. and A. G. Porritt, 
The Unreformed House of Commons, 2 vols. (1903), and J. R. M. Butler, 
The Passing of the Great Reform Bill (1914); A. V. Dicey, Lectures on the 
Relation between Law and Public Opinion in England during the Nineteenth 
Century (ed. 1914), a brilliant interpretation by a philosophic Conserva- 
tive; Sir Thomas E. May, Constitutional History of England since the Acces- 
sion of George III, edited and continued by F. Holland, 3 vols. (1912), a 
standard treatise; D. J. Medley, A Student's Manual of English Constitu- 
tional History (ed. 1913), a detailed work of reference. 

Social Conditions 

H. D. Traill, Social England (1909), vol. vi contains articles by different 
writers on various aspects of nineteenth century England; E. Jenks, A Short 
History of the English Law (1912), a brief reliable account, describing the re- 
forms in the criminal code; Sir G. Nicholls, A History of the English Poor Law 
in connection with the State of the Country and the Condition of the People, 
2 vols. (ed. 1898), is the best work on the subject, goes down to 1834, and is 
continued to 1899 by T. Mackay in a third volume; on factory legislation, 
the best work is B. L.,Hutchins and A. Harrison, A History of Factory Legis- 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 765 

lotion (ed. 191 1); on conditions of factory life, F. Engels, The Condition of 
the Working- Class in England in 1844, and the two novels, B. Disraeli, 
Sybil, or the Tivo Nations, and C. Kingsley, Alton Locke; on Chartism, Mark 
Hovell, the Chartist Movement (1918), the best study of the subject, and 
two good monographs, F. F. Rosenblatt, The Chartist Movement in its Social 
and Economic Aspects (1917), and P. W. Slosson, The Decline of the Chart- 
ist Movement (19 17); on education, G. Balfour, The Educational System of 
Great Britain and Ireland (ed. 1903), a comprehensive and reliable account 
of British education during the nineteenth century. 

Economic Conditions 

Three indispensable works for the statistical study of the growth of Eng- 
lish industry are M. G. Mulhall, The Dictionary of Statistics (ed. 1899), 
A. D. Webb, The New Dictionary of Statistics (191 1), and G. R. Porter, 
Progress of the Nation in its Various Social and Industrial Relations, ed. by 
F. W. Hirst (1912); for good short descriptions of the development of Eng- 
lish industry, see the two books of H. de B. Gibbins referred to under chap- 
ter in, G. H. Perris, The Industrial History of Modern England (1914), and 
A. L. Bowley, A Short Account of England's Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth 
Century: its Economic and Social Results (1905); the best study of the free- 
trade movement is B. H. Holland, The Fall of Protection 1840-1850 (1913); 
consult also Cambridge Modern History, vol. xi, ch. 1. 

Religious Reforms 

B. Ward, The Eve of Catholic Emancipation, 1803-182Q, 3 vols. (1912), 
and The Sequel to Catholic Emancipation, 1830-1850, 2 vols. (1915), de- 
scribe the removal of Catholic disabilities; H. W. Clark, History of English 
Nonconformity (1913), vol. II describes removal of the disabilities of the 
Dissenters; F. W. Cornish, A History of the Church of England in the Nine- 
teenth Century (1910), the best book on the subject; R. W. Church, The 
Oxford Movement: Twelve Years, 1833-184$ (1900), and W. Ward, The Life 
of John Henry, Cardinal Newman, based on his private journals and corre- 
spondence, 2 vols. (1912), describe the Oxford Movement; on Christian 
Socialism, C. W. Stubbs, Charles Kingsley and the Christian Social Move- 
ment (1900), A. V. Woodworth, Christian Socialism in England (1903), and 
H. de B. Gibbins, English Social Reformers (1902). 

Literature 

Cambridge History of English Literature (1917), vols, xn-xiv; G. E. B. 
Saintsbury, A History of Nineteenth Century Literature, 1780-18Q5 (ed. 1912); 
H. Walker, The Literature of the Victorian Era (1913); W. J. Long, English 
Literature (1909); R. P. Halleck, New English Literature (1913)- 



CHAPTERS VI, VIII 

France (1815-70) 

General 

G. L. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modem France (1892), a sug- 
gestive interpretation of French politics from the French Revolution to the 
Franco-Prussian War; F. M. Anderson, Constitutions and Other Select Docu- 
ments Illustrative of the History of France, 1 789-1901 (ed. 1909), a useful col- 
lection of documents translated into English; Seignobos, chs. v-vi; C. M. 
Andrews, The Historical Development of Modern Europe, vol. 1, chs. iv, vn, 
viii, vol. 11, chs. 1, iv. 



766 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The Restoration 

H. Houssaye, 1815, 3 vols. (1896-1905), vol. in gives a vivid and correct 
account of the Bourbon reaction; P. Thureau-Dangin, Le parti liberal sous 
la restauration (ed. 1888), a study of the Liberal opposition to absolutism; 
R. Viviani, La restauration, 18 14-1830 (1906), vol. vn of Histoire socialiste, 
a series edited by the Socialist leader, Jean Jaures, which presents the So- 
cialist interpretation and is valuable for descriptions of the condition of 
the laboring classes of the period. 

The July Monarchy 

P. Thureau-Dangin, Histoire de la monarchic dejuillet, 7 vols. (ed. 1888-92), 
the most exhaustive treatment of the period, written from a Catholic and 
conservative viewpoint; J. E. Fourniere, Le regne de Louis Philippe (1906), 
vol. viii of the Histoire socialiste, presents the Socialist viewpoint; Louis 
Blanc, History of Ten Years, 1830-1840, trans, from the French, 2 vols. 
(1844-45), an interesting account by the well-known radical; G. Weill, La 
France sous la monarchic constitutionnelle, 18 14-1848 (ed. 19 12), a careful 
study of social as well as political conditions. 

The Second Republic 

P. de la Gorce, Histoire de la second republique francaise, 2 vols. (ed. 1914), 
an account by a strong anti-republican, hostile to the Socialists; quite op- 
posite in point of view is the book of G. Renard, La republique de 1848, 
vol. ix, of the Histoire socialiste, sympathetic with the aims and ideals of the 
radicals; J. Tchernoff, Associations et societes secretes sous la deuxieme re- 
publique (1905), an interesting study, based upon original documents, of the 
powerful secret societies that carried on the republican propaganda; G. 
Weill, Histoire du parti republicain en France de 1814 d, 1870 (1900), an im- 
partial, scholarly work on French republicanism; J. A. R. Marriott (editor), 
■The French Revolution in 1848 in its Economic Aspects, 2 vols. (1913), con- 
tains reprints of important social documents of the period. 

The Second Empire 

P. de la Gorce, Histoire du second empire, 7 vols. (ed. 1 896-1905), the most 
thorough work on the subject, conservative in point of view; Albert Thomas, 
Le second empire (1907), vol. X of Histoire socialiste, an able presentation 
from the Socialist standpoint; Emile Ollivier, U Empire liberal, 17 vols. (1895- 
1914), a greatly detailed apology of the Liberal Empire by the Minister of 
Napoleon III; H. A. L. Fisher, Bonapartism (1908), a series of popular lectures 
on the two Napoleons, suggestive and interesting. 

Social and Economic 

Emile Levasseur, Histoire des classes ouvrieres et de Tindustrie en France 
de 1780 d, 1870, 2 vols. (1903-04), a masterly treatment of the social and eco- 
nomic development of France, is indispensable for the study of the subject; 
by the same author, Histoire du commerce de la France, 2 vols. (1911-12), 
vol. 11 covers the period 1789-1910, and La popidation francaise, 3 vols. 
(1889-92); G. Weill, Histoire du mouvement social .en France, i8$2-iqio (ed. 
191 1), an able study of social radicalism in France. 

Literature 

L. Pettit de Juleville, Histoire de la Langue et de la Litterature francaise, 
8 vols. (1896-99), vols, vii-viii deal with the nineteenth century; G. Lanson, 
Histoire de la litterature francaise (ed. 1916); C. H. C. Wright, A History of 
French Literature (1912); G. Pellissier, Le mouvement litter air e au XIX e siecle 
(ed. 1912); I. Babbitt, The Masters of Modern French Criticism (1912). 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 767 

CHAPTERS VII, IX 

Central Europe (1815-70) 

General 

Many volumes have been written on various aspects of the history of 
Germany during the nineteenth century. But most of them are disfigured 
by violent partisanship, the reflection of the passions aroused by the bitter 
struggles of Germany to achieve her unity. The most famous work is Hein- 
rich von Treitschke, Deutsche Geschichte im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, 5 vols. 
(1890-96), of which 3 vols, have been translated into English by E. and C. 
Paul, for a characterization of this work see p. 172 ; H. von Sybel, The Found- 
ing of the German Empire by William I, 7 vols., trans, from the German 
by M. L. Perrin and G. Bradford (1890-98), another famous "national his- 
tory," scholarly in method, but marked by a decided Prussian bias; by far 
the best treatment of Germany during the period 1815-70 is in the monu- 
mental work of A. Stern, Geschichte Europas; Dahlman-Waitz, Quellenkunde 
der deutschen Geschichte (ed. 1906-07), an invaluable bibliography of Ger- 
man history, indispensable to students of the subject; E. F. Henderson, A 

. Short History of Germany (ed. 1916), vol. n, chs. vm-x; G. M. Priest, Ger- 
many since 1740 (1915), chs. vm-x. 

Revolution of 1848 

Andrews, vol. 1, chs. vm-x, contains excellent summary; H. Blum, Die 
deutsche Revolution, 1848-184Q (1897), gives a good account; P. Matter, La 
Prusse et la Revolution de 1848 (1903); K. Marx, Revolution and Counter- 
Revolution, or Germany in 1848 (ed. 1904), trans, from the German, a 
socialistic interpretation by the great Socialist; The Reminiscences of Carl 
Schurz (1907), vol. 1 describes in an interesting way the experiences of a 
young revolutionist of '48; H. Friedjung, -Oesterreich von 1848 bis i860, 
2 vols. (1908-12), by a well-known Austrian historian; C. M. Knatchbull- 
Hugessen, The Political Evolution of the Hungarian Nation, vol. 11, chs. xn- 
xvi, describes the Hungarian uprising; L. Leger, A History of Austria-Hun- 
gary from the Earliest Time to the Year 1889, trans, from the French by 

B. Hill (1889), the standard history of Austria. 

Bismarck 

What will probably be the standard biography of Bismarck is Erich 
Marks, Bismarck, eine Beographie, vol. 1 entitled, Bismarcks Jugend, 1815- 
184S, appeared in 1909; P. Matter, Bismarck et son temps, 3 vols. (ed. 1914), 
the best French biography and quite fair to the German statesman; M. 
Lenz, Geschichte Bismarcks (1902), by an authority on Bismarck; in English, 
J. W. Headlam, Bismarck and the Founding of the German Empire (1899), 

C. Lowe, Prince Bismarck (1899), and Munroe Smith, Bismarck and Ger- 
man Unity (ed. 1910), the last being brief but excellent; Bismarck's me- 
moirs, Reflections and Reminiscences, 2 vols. (1899), trans, from the Ger- 
man by A. J. Butler, like memoirs of other great statesmen is more useful 
to the general reader than to the historian; Moritz Busch, Bismarck — 
Some Secret Pages of his History, 2 vols. (1898), a diary kept by one of Bis- 
marck's intimate political friends; Horst Kohl (editor), Die politischen 
Reden des Fursten Bismarck, 14 vols. (1892-94); H. Schoenfeld, Bismarck's 
Speeches and Letters (1905), a fairly good selection; The Correspondence of 
William I and Bismarck, with Other Letters from and to Prince Bismarck, 
2 vols, trans, by J. A. Ford (1903). 

Unification Movement 

W. Oncken, Das Zeitalter des Kaisers Wilhelm, 2 vols. (1890-92), by a 
scholarly German historian; H. Friedjung, Der Kampf urn die Vorherrschaft 



768 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

in Deutschland, 185Q-1866, 2 vols. (1897-98), the best treatment from the 
Austrian point of view; E. Denis, Le fondation de V empire allemand, 1852- 
187 1 (1906), by a French authority, and on the whole the best book on 
the subject; Memoirs of Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe-Schillingsfiirst, 2 vols., 
trans, from the German by G. W. Chrystal (1906), tells of the relations 
between North and South Germany during the critical period; original 
sources for the period 1866-71 are to be found in L. Hahn (editor), Zwei 
Jahre preussisch-deutscher Politik, 1866-1867 (1868), and Der Krieg Deutsch- 
lands gegen Frankreich . . . die deutsche Politik 1867 bis 1871 (187 1). 

Franco-Prussian War 

J. H. Rose, The Development of the European Nations, 1870-igoo (1905), 
vol. 1, chs. i-iv; Lord Acton, Historical Essays and Studies (1907), chs. vii- 
viii ; Jean Jaures, La guerre franco -allcmande, 1870-1871 (1908), vol. xi of 
Histoire socialiste; E. Palat, Les origines de la guerre de 1870: la candida- 
ture Hohenzollern, 1868-1870 (1912), a study in the diplomatic origins of 
the war; a good brief account is A. Chuquet, La guerre de 1870-187 1 (1895). 

Social and Economic 

The best boohs on German economic conditions are Werner Sombart, 
Der moderne Capilalismus , 2 vols. (1902), and by the same author, Die 
deutsche Volkswirtschaft im neunzehnten Jahrhundert (1903); a good descrip- 
tion of the industrialization of Germany can be found in W. Oncken, Das 
Zeitalter des Kaisers Wilhelm, vol. 1, book 1; W. H. Dawson, Protection in 
Germany; a History of German Fiscal Policy during the Nineteenth Century 
(1904). 

Cultural 

T. Ziegler, Die Geistigen und Sozialen Strbmungen Deutschlands in neun- 
zehnten Jahrhundert (ed. 191 1); on the German historians, see A. Guilland, 
Modern Germany and her Historians, trans, from the French (1915), and G. P. 
Gooch, History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century (1913), chs. i-viii; 
F. Kummer, Deutsche Liter aturgeschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts 
(1909); Kiino Francke, A History of German Literature as determined by 
Social Forces (ed. 1901); J. F. Coar, Studies in German Literature in the 
Nineteenth Century (1903). 

CHAPTER X 
Union and Democracy in Italy 

General 

The Italian national movement attracted considerable attention and 
sympathy in England and America and led to the publication of excellent 
histories of the movement in English. By far the best general account is 
Bolton King, A History of Italian Unity) 1814-187 1, 2 vols. (1899); for a 
good narrative of the early history of the movement see W. R. Thayer, 
The Dawn of Italian Independence, 2 vols. (1893); Evelyn (Countess) Marti- 
nengo-Cesaresco, The Liberation of Italy, 1815-1870 (1894), a sympathetic 
narrative; Jessie White Mario, The Birth of Modern Italy, edited by the 
Duke Litta-Visconti-Arese (1909), consists of essays warmly appreciative 
of Mazzini and Garibaldi but hostile to Cavour; C. Tivaroni, Storia critica 
del risorgimento d'Italia,g vols. (1888-97), an exhaustive study by an Ital- 
ian historian; R. de Cesare, The Last Days of Papal Rome, 18 50-1870, 
abridged and translated from the Italian by Helen Zimmern (1909), anti- 
clerical in tone; R. S. Holland, Builders of United Italy (1908), contains 
short sketches of the heroes of the Risorgimento. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 769 

Cavour 

The standard biography of Cavour in any language is that by an Amer- 
ican scholar, W. R. Thayer, The Life and Times of Cavour, 2 vols. (191 1); 
see also his interesting comparison of Cavour with Bismarck in Atlantic 
Monthly, March, 1909; another American scholar, Andrew D. White, wrote a 
penetrating study of Cavour in Atlantic Monthly, March and April, 1907; 
Evelyn (Countess) Martinengo-Cesaresco, Cavour (1898), a brilliantly writ- 
ten little biography by a close student of Italian unification; F. X. Kraus, 
Cavour, die Erhebung Italiens im neunzehnten Jahrhundert (1902), a good 
popular biography from the Catholic viewpoint; P. Orsi, Cavour and the 
Making of Modern Italy, 1810-1861 (1914); for letters of Cavour, see N. 
Bianchi (editor), La politique du comte Camille de Cavour de 1852 d, 1861, 
lettres inedites (1885). 

Garibaldi 

The standard books on Garibaldi are those by an English scholar, G. M. 
Trevelyan, whose work is characterized by thorough scholarship and fine 
literary style, Garibaldi's Defence of the Roman Republic (1907), Garibaldi 
and the Thousand (1909), and Garibaldi and the Making of Italy (191 1). 

Mazzini 

Unfortunately there exists no biography of Mazzini as good as those of 
Cavour and Garibaldi. Bolton King, Joseph Mazzini (1902), is the best; 
good sketches are to be found in R. S. Holland, Builders of United Italy, and 
in W. R. Thayer, Italica; Mazzini's Duties of Man and Essays give an ex- 
cellent idea of his ideals and temperament. 

Literature 

R. Garnett, History of Italian Literature (1898); H. Hauvette, Litter- 
ature italienne (1906); L. Collison-Morley, Modern Italian Literature (1912). 

CHAPTER XI 

The Third French Republic 
General 

J. C. Bracq, France under the Republic (1910), a good popular account of 
the problems of the Republic by an ardent Republican; W. L. George, 
France in the Twentieth Century (1909), a series of well-written essays by 
an observing journalist; G. G. Berry, France since Waterloo (1909); J. E. C. 
Bodley, France (ed. 1899), a well-known but over-estimated work by an 
Englishman who is hostile to the parliamentary system in France; Gabriel 
Hanotaux, Contemporary France, 4 vols., trans, from the French by J. C. 
Tarver, a brilliant narrative of the years 1870-82 by a distinguished French 
statesman, contains splendid descriptions of Gambetta and Thiers, trans- 
lation poor; J. Labusquiere, La troisieme republique, 1871-iQOO (1909), 
vol. xii of Histoire socialiste; E. Zevort, Histoire de la troisieme republique, 
4 vols. (1 898-1901) goes to 1894; G. Weill, Histoire du mouvement social en 
France, 1852-1910 (ed. 191 1), the best short study of the social problems of 
the period; A. Rambaud, Jules Ferry (1903), a biography of an important 
Republican statesman; no adequate life of Gambetta has as yet appeared. 

Government and Parties 

F. A. Ogg, The Governments of Europe (1913), chs. xv-xviii, the best brief 
study of the subject in English; A. L. Lowell, The Governments of France, 
Italy, and Germany (1915); Raymond Poincare, How France Is Governed, 
trans, from the French (1914), a simple, clear account by the President 
of France; L. Jacques, Les partis politiques sous la troisieme republique: 



770 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

doctrine et programme, organisation et tactique d'apres les derniers congres 
(1913), a detailed description of the various political parties; W. Hasbach, 
Die Moderne Democratie (1912); on the question of electoral reform see the 
excellent article by J. W. Garner, "Electoral Reform in France" (American 
Political Science Review, November, 1913); J. T. Shotwell, "The Political 
Capacity of the French" (Political Science Quarterly, March, 1909), a 
sympathetic and illuminating study of French political ideals; J. Salwyn 
Schapiro, "The Drift in French Politics" (American Political Science Re- 
view, August, 1913). 

Commune 

E. Lepelletier, Histoire de la commune de 1871, 2 vols. (1911-12), the 
best treatment of a much-disputed subject; M. du Camp, Les convulsions 
de Paris, 4 vols. (ed. 1881), hostile to the Commune; sympathetic are L. 
Dubreuilh, La commune, 1871 (1908), in vol. XI of Histoire socialiste, and 
P. O. Lissagaray, History of the Commune of 187 1, trans, from the French by 
Eleanor M. Aveling (ed. \\ 



The Dreyfus Affair 

J. Reinach, Histoire de Vaffaire Dreyfus, 7 vols. (1898-1911), a detailed 
work by a well-known Dreyfusard; see article "Dreyfus" in Jewish En- 
cyclopedia; Paul Desachy, Bibliographie de Vaffaire Dreyfus (1905); Drey- 
fus himself wrote two books, both translated into English, Lettres d'un 
innocent (1898) and Cinq annees de ma vie (1901). 

The Church Question 

A. Debidour, Histoire des Rapports de VEglise et de VEiat en France, 
1789-1870 (1898) and VEglise catholique et VEtat sous la troisieme Repub- 
lique, 2 vols. (1909), are masterly studies of the Catholic Church in France 
since the Revolution; E. Spuller, L 'evolution politique et social de Veglise 
(i&93), a short but good account; A. Galton, Church and State in France, 
1300-1007 (1907), anti-clerical in tone; excellent short studies of the Separa- 
tion Law are P. Sabatier, Disestablishment in France (1906) and O. Guer- 
lac, "Church and State in France" (Political Science Quarterly, June, 1908); 
Aristide Briand, La separation des eglises et de I'etat (1905), an official report 
of the Law made to the Chamber by the author of the Law; see also his 
La separation — Discussion de la loi (1908) ; on the Catholic side, E. Lecannet, 
L'eglise de France sous la troisieme republique, 2 vols. (1907-10), Comte 
Albert de Mun, Contra la Separation (1906), and especially the article 
"Concordat" in the Catholic Encyclopedia; G. Odin and E. Remaud, La 
loi du decembre 1905 concernant la separation des eglises et de I'etat (1906) 
contains text of the Law. 

Colonial Expansion 

For brief survey see Histoire generate, vol. xn, ch. xxn; Emile Levasseur, 
La France et ses colonies, geographie et statistique, 3 vols. (1890-93); M. Du- 
bois and A. Terrier, Un siecle d 'expansion coloniale, 1800-1000 (ed. 1902); 
A. Gaisman, L'ceuvre de la France au Tonkin (1906); R. Devereux, Aspects 
of Algeria: Historical, Political, Colonial (191 2); V. Piquet, La colonisation 
francaise dans I ' Afrique du nord: Algerie — Tunisie — Maroc (1912). 

Social and Economic 

The monumental works of Levasseur have already been referred to under 
chapters VI, vm; see also his Questions ouvrieres et industrielles en France 
sous la troisieme republique (1907); for a brief statement of economic condi- 
tions under the Third Republic, see Histoire generate, vol. xii, ch. xxiii 
and F. A. Ogg, Economic Development of Modern Europe (1917), pp. 187- 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 771 

200, 212-18, 280-95, 396-405, 458-70, 623-29; E. Thery, Les Progres 
economiques de la France (1909); A. de Lavergne and L. Paul Henry, La 
Richesse de la France (1908); on the land problem, J. Dumas, "Present 
State of the Land System in France" {Economic Journal, March, 1909) and 
Compere-Morel, La Question agraire et le Socialisme en France (1912); for 
social legislation, P. Pic, Traite elementaire de legislation indusirielle: les 
lois ouvrieres (ed. 1912) and Les assurances sociales en France et d, I Stranger 
(I9I3)- 

Cultural 

A. L. Guerard, French Civilization in the Nineteenth Century (1914), a 
series of excellent essays on such topics as education, religion, labor, and 
literature; by the same author, French Prophets of Yesterday ; a study of 
religious thought under the Second Empire (191 3), good essays on Sainte- 
Beuve, Taine, and Renan; W. C. Brownell, French Traits (ed. 1902), a pene- 
trating study of French life and manners by a distinguished American 
literary critic; Barrett Wendell, The France of To-Day (1907), an interesting 
discussion of French culture and ideals. 

For references on socialism and syndicalism in France see bibliography 
under chapter xxiv; for those on foreign policies, chapter xxix; consult 
also bibliography under chapters vi, vm. 

CHAPTER XII 
The German Empire 

General 
* There are many excellent books on the various aspects of the German 
Empire. The best study of the German Empire, especially on its social 
and economic aspects, is W. H. Dawson, The Evolution of Modem Germany 
(1908); a very good general treatment, R. H. Fife, The German Empire 
Between Two Wars (1916); B. von Biilow, Imperial Germany, trans, from the 
German by Marie A. Lewenz (1914), a well-written defense of Germany's 
domestic and foreign policies by the distinguished Chancellor; J. Ellis 
Barker, Modern Germany, her Political and Economic Problems, her For- 
eign and Domestic Policy, her Ambitions, and the Causes of her Success (ed. 
1915), title sufficiently describes the book, whose object is to persuade Eng- 
land to adopt a protective tariff against Germany, contains good chapters on 
German industrial conditions; H. Lichtenberger, Germany and its Evolu- 
tion in Modem Times, trans, from the French by A. M. Ludovici (1913), em- 
phasizes the religious and educational aspects; Karl Lamprecht, Deutsche 
Geschichte der jiingsten Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, 2 vols. (191 2- 13), a 
notable work by a distinguished German historian; R. M. Berry, Germany 
and the Germans (1910), an excellent handbook; for impressionistic studies 
see Price Collier, Germany and the Germans (1913), G. H. Perris, Germany 
and the German Emperor (1912), and W. von Schierbrand, Germany (1902); 
C. Gauss, The German Emperor as Shown in his Public Utterances (1915). 

Government and Parties 

The great authority on the German constitution is Paul Laband, whose 
books, Das Staatsrechl des deutschen Retches, 4 vols. (ed. 1901), and Deutsches 
Reichsstaatsrecht (ed. 1912), are the standard works on the subject; Fritz- 
Konrad Kriiger, Government and Politics of the German Empire (1915), an 
excellent handbook; for resumes consult A. L. Lowell, The Governments 
of France, Italy, and Germany and F. A. Ogg, The Governments of Europe, 
chs. ix-xiv; B. E. Howard, The German Empire (1906), a highly detailed 
study of the Imperial structure; a similar work for Prussia is H. G. James, 



772 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Principles of Prussian Administration (1913); for an interpretation, W. W. 
Willoughby, "The Prussian Theory of Monarchy" {American Political 
Science Review, November, 1917); F. Salomon, Die deutschen Parteipro- 
gramme, 2 vols. (ed. 1912), contains the platforms of the German parties 
from 1845 to 1912; O. Stillich, Die politschen Parteien in Deutschland: eine 
wissenschaftliche Darlegung Hirer Grundsatze und ihrer geschichtlichen Ent- 
wickelung, a series of thorough studies of German political parties of which 
only two volumes have so far appeared, vol. I, Die Konservativen (1908), 
and vol. 11, Der Liberalismus (191 1). 

Social and Economic 

The great authority on social and economic conditions in the German 
Empire is W. H. Dawson, whose books are, Bismarck and State Socialism 
(189 1 ), Protection in Germany: A History of German Fiscal Policy during 
the Nineteenth Century (1904), The German Workman: A Study in National 
Efficiency (1906), The Evolution of Modern Germany (1908), Social Insur- 
ance in Germany, 1883-iQii: its History, Operation, Results, and a Compari- 
son with the {British) National Insurance Act, 191 1 (1912), and Municipal Life 
and Government in Germany (1914); for brief treatment, F. A. Ogg, Economic 
Development of Modem Europe (1917), pp. 218-36, 296-314, 405-13, 450-58, 
568-600; good popular descriptions of German social legislation, E. Roberts, 
Monarchical Socialism in Germany (1913) and F. C. Howe, Socialized Ger- 
many (1915); U.S. Bureau of Labor Bulletin, vol. xxm, contains a translation 
by H. J. Harris of the social insurance code issued in 191 1; A. Ashley, The 
Social Policy of Bismarck (1912); Ch. Andler, Les Origines du Socialisme d'etat 
en Allemagne (ed. 1911), a study of the theoretical bases of state socialism; 
for industrial development, see books of Sombart under chapters VII, ix; two 
authoritative German studies are Karl Helfferich, Germany's Economic 
Progress and National Wealth, 1888-1913, and Germany's Economic Forces, 
presented by the Dresdener Bank, Berlin (1913); E. D. Howard, The Cause 
and Extent of the Recent Industrial Progress of Germany (1907), an excellent 
summary; A. Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency: a Comparative Study of In- 
dustrial Life in England, Germany, and America (19 13); T. Veblen, Imperial 
Germany and the Industrial Revolution (19 15), a penetrating and original 
study of the union in Germany of the dynastic state with modern industrial- 
ism. 

Colonial Expansion 

The most important book on the relations between business and expan- 
sion is Handels-und Machtpolitik (1900), a series of essays in favor of expan- 
sion by German economists, edited by Gustav Schmoller; A. Zimmerman, 
Geschichte der deutschen Kolonialpolitik (1914); K. Hassert, Deutschlands 
Kolonien: Erwebungs und Entwickelungs geschichte, landes und wirtschaft- 
liche Bedetitung unserer Schutzgebiete (ed. 1910); Evans Lewin, The Ger- 
mans and Africa, their aims on the Dark Continent and how they acquired their 
African colonies (1915). 

Special Topics 

On the Kidlurkampf: G. Goyau, Bismarck et Veglise: le Ctdturkampf, 1870- 
1887, 4 vols. (1911-13), for the clerical side; and L. Hahn, Geschichte des 
Kulturkampfes in Preussen (1881), for the anti-clerical side. On Alsace- 
Lorraine: C. D. Hazen, Alsace-Lorraine under German Rule (1917), the best 
study from the French viewpoint; B. Weill, Elsass-Lothringen und der Krieg 
(1914), the best from the German viewpoint. On foreign relations, see refer- 
ences in the bibliography under chapter xxix; on socialism, under chapter 
xxiv. Consult also bibliography under chapters vi, ix. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 773 

Culture 

W. P. Paterson (editor), German Culture: the Contribution of the Ger- 
mans to Knowledge, Literature, Art, and Life (1915), a series of essays by 
English writers; Georges Bourdon, The German Enigma, trans, from the 
French by B. Marshall (1914), a French interpretation of German character, 
very interesting; John Dewey, German Philosophy and Politics (1915), a 
highly original interpretation of German ideals; G. S. Fullerton, Germany 
of To-Day (1915); E. Belfort Bax, German Culture Past and Present (1915). 

CHAPTER XIII 

Political and Social Democracy in Great Britain (1867-1914) 

General 

There are no general histories of Great Britain dealing with the period 
1867-1914. For general histories of Great Britain during the nineteenth 
century, see bibliography under chapters iv, v. 

Biographies 

John (Viscount) Morley, The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, 3 vols, 
in 2 (ed. 191 1), the standard biography of the Liberal leader by his dis- 
tinguished disciple; W. F. Monypenny (continued by G. E. Buckle), The Life 
of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, 5 vols. (1910— 18), the standard 
biography of the Conservative leader; Sir Sidney Lee, Queen Victoria: a 
Biography (1903); G. M. Trevelyan, The Life of John Bright (1913), a nota- 
ble biography distinguished for sound scholarship and high literary merit; 
C. W. Boyd (editor), Speeches of Joseph Chamberlain, 2 vols. (1914); John 
(Viscount) Morley, Recollections (1917), being the memoirs of the famous 
historian, essayist, and statesman. 

Government 

A. L. Lowell, The Government of England, 2 vols. (ed. 1912), is the best work 
on the subject, treats fully all aspects of the British system, local, national, 
and imperial; Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution (ed. 191 1), a famous 
interpretation of British political customs, now old, but still worth reading; 
standard treatises are A. V. Dicey, Introduction to the Study of tlte Con- 
stitution (ed. 1915), Sir W. Anson, The Law and Custom of the Constitution, 
3 vols. (ed. 1907-09), Sidney Low, The Governance of England (ed. 1914), 
and Leonard Courtney, The Working Constitution of the United Kingdom 
(1901); good brief treatments, T. F. Moran, The Theory and Practice of the 
English Government (1903) and F. A. Ogg, The Governments of Europe, 
chs. i-vin; Sir Courtney Ilbert, Parliament, its History, Constitution, and 
Practice (191 1), an excellent little handbook; on the Parliament Act of 
191 1 see the articles of A. L. P. Dennis in the American Political Science 
Review, May and August, 1912; for constitutional histories, see references 
to the bibliography under chapters IV, V. 

Political Parties 

Illuminating descriptions of the English political parties are to be found 
in Lowell's work; Lord Hugh Cecil, Conservatism (1912), a popular account 
by a Conservative; L. T. Hobhouse, Liberalism (191 1), a popular account by 
a Liberal; A. W. Humphrey, A History of Labour Representation (1912), 
a popular account by a Laborite; H. Belloc and C. Chesterton, The Party 
System (1911), a bitter attack on the methods of the two English parties; 
M. Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, 2 vols. 
(1902), vol. 1, England, vol. 11, America, trans, from the French by F. Clarke, 



774 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

a famous work by a Russian scholar, which endeavors to show the inade- 
quacy of political parties to express democracy; J. A. Hobson, The Crisis of 
Liberalism (1909), by a well-known economist who sympathizes with the 
radical wing of the Liberal Party. 

Social and Industrial 

For a brief account of social and industrial England, F. A. Ogg, Economic 
Development of Modern Europe (1917), chs. xn, xvn, xix, and pp. 601-23; 
Charles Booth (editor), Life and Labour of the People in London, 17 vols. 
(1892-1903), an "encyclopedia of poverty," consisting of detailed studies of 
the social and economic conditions of the London poor; B. S. Rowntree, 
Poverty: A Study of Town Life (ed. 1902), a similar study though on a 
smaller scale for the city of York; L. G. Chiozza-Money, Riches and Pov- 
erty (191 1 ), a popular but reliable study of the distribution of wealth in the 
United Kingdom; P. Alden, Democratic England (1912), a series of essays on 
present-day social problems by a Liberal; W. S. Churchill, Liberalism and the 
Social Problem (1909), a collection of speeches favoring radical reforms by 
the Liberal leader; Carlton Hayes, British Social Politics (1913), a well- 
selected collection of extracts from speeches delivered in Parliament on the 
recent social legislation, as well as a reprint of these laws; E. Guyot, Le 
socialisme et revolution de V Angleterre contemporaine, 1880-igil (19 13), an 
excellent study of British radical politics; Sidney and Beatrice Webb, The 
History of Trade Unionism (ed. 191 1) and Industrial Democracy (191 1), 
are the best studies of the history and ideals of the trade unions; C. M. 
Lloyd, Trade Unionism (1915), a brief account, good for recent events; M. F. 
Robinson, The Spirit of Association, being some account of the Gilds, Friendly 
Societies, Cooperative Movement, and Trade Unions of Great Britain (1913); 
B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison, A History of Factory Legislation (ed. 191 1); 
on social insurance, L. G. Chiozza-Money, Insurance against Poverty (1912), 
A. S. C. Carr, W. H. Garnett, and J. H. Taylor, National Insurance (ed. 
1913), and an article in Survey, March 28, 1914; on industrial conditions, 
A. Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency; a Comparative Study of Industrial Life 
in England, Germany, and America (19 13), W. J. Ashley, British Industries 
(ed. 1907), W. Cunningham, The Case against Free Trade (191 1), and Robert 
Giffen, Economic Inquiries and Studies, 2 vols. (1904); for further refer- 
ences to social and economic conditions in England, see bibliography under 
chapters iv, v; on educational progress, G. Balfour, The Educational Systems 
of Great Britain and Ireland (ed. 1903). 

The Land Question 

The best study of the land question in Great Britain is a Parliamentary 
report entitled The Land : the Report of the Land Enquiry Committee, vol. 1, 
Rural (1913), vol. 11, Urban (1914); for a brief account, F. A. Ogg, Economic 
Development of Modern Europe (1917), chs. vi, vni; R. E. Prothero, Eng- 
lish Farming Past and Present (1912), by a reorganized authority on the 
subject, conservative in tendency; Jesse Collings, Land Reform (1906), a 
plea for peasant proprietorship; by the same author, The Colonization of 
Rural Britain : a Complete Scheme for the Regeneration of British Rural 
Life, 2 vols. (1914); J. L. and B. Hammond, The Village Labourer, 1760-18J2 
(1911), the best study of the enclosure movement; G. Slater, The English 
Peasantry and the Enclosure of the Common Fields (1907), another good study 
of the same subject; H. Harben, The Rural Problem (1914), an excellent short 
study; B. S. Rowntree, How the Labourer Lives : A Study of the Rural Labour 
Problem (1913); H. Rider Haggard, Rural England, 2 vols. (1906); C. Turnor, 
Land Problems and National Welfare (191 1); G. Cadbury and T. Bryan, 
The Land and the Landless (1908). 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 775 

For additional references see bibliography under chapters iv, v, for refer- 
ences on English socialism see bibliography under chapter xxiv; for those 
on Woman Suffrage, chapter xxv; for those on foreign policies, chapter xxix. 

CHAPTER XIV 

The Irish Question 

Nearly all the books written on Ireland are partisan, often bitterly so. 
For Ireland in the eighteenth century consult the famous work of W. H. 
Lecky, A History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century, 5 vols. (ed. 1893); 
L. Paul-Dubois, Contemporary Ireland, trans, from the French (1908), the 
best work in Ireland in the nineteenth century, emphasizes the social and 
cultural aspects; Cambridge Modern History, vol. xn, ch. iv, C. Johnston and 
C. Spencer, Ireland's Story (1905), a brief general history; Alice S. Green, 
Irish Nationality (191 1), a handy volume, sympathetic with the Irish; W. P. 
O'Brien, Great Famine in Ireland and a Retrospect of the Fifty Years 1S45- 
i8q5 (1896), M. Davitt, The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland, or the Story of 
the Land League Revolution (1904), R. B. O'Brien, Life of Charles Stewart 
Parnell, 2 vols, in 1 (1898), and E. Childers, The Frame-Work of Home Rule 
(191 1 ) are sympathetic with the Home Rule movement; opposed to it, 
Sir G. Baden-Powell, Truth about Home Ride, Papers on the Irish Question 
(1888) and S. Rosenbaum (editor), Against Home Rule: the Case for the 
Union (1912); on Gladstone and Home Rule, see Morley's Life and Lord 
Eversley, Gladstone and Ireland: The Irish Policy of Parliament from 1S50 
to 1804 (1912); Sir Horace Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (1904), an 
excellent description of the cooperative movement in Ireland by its pro- 
moter; G. E. Russell, Cooperation and Nationality (1913), an interpretation of 
the cooperative movement by the Irish poet-economist AL; James Connolly, 
Labour in Ireland (1917), by the Irish revolutionist of 1917; E. Barker, Ire- 
land in the Last Fifty Years, iS66-iqi6 (1917), good description of the con- 
dition of the peasants. 

CHAPTER XV 

The British Empire 

General 

W. H. Woodward, A Short History of the Expansion of the British Empire 
1500-iQii (ed. 1912) and H. E. Egerton, A Short History of British Colonial 
Policy (1897) are the standard brief histories of the Empire; C. P. Lucas, 
A Historical Geography of the British Colonies, 6 vols, in 12 (ed. 1916), the 
standard authority; A. J. Herbertson and O. J. R. Howarth (editors), The 
Oxford Survey of the British Empire, 6 vols. (1914), mainly descriptive; 
L. Curtis (editor), The Commonwealth of Nations (1916); Sir Charles Lucas, 
The British Empire (1915); A. L. Lowell, The Government of England (ed. 
1912), vol. ii f chs. liv-lviii. 

Economic Conditions 

W. J. Ashley (editor), British Dominions : Their Present Commercial and 
Industrial Conditions (191 1); C. J. Fuchs, The Trade Policy of Great Britain 
and her Colonies since i860, trans, from the German by C. Archibald (1905); 
G. Drage, The Imperial Organization of Trade (191 1). 

Colonial Problems 

Sir Charles Dilke, Problems of Greater Britain (1890) and The British 
Empire (1899), two books by a Liberal statesman who made the Empire 
his special study; R. Jebb, Studies in Colonial Nationalism (1905); F. J. C. 



776 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Hearnshaw (editor), King's College Lectures on Colonial Problems (1913); 
Sir Charles Bruce, The Broad Stone of Empire: Problems of Crown Colony 
Administration (1910); H. E. Egerton, Federations and Unions within the 
British Empire (191 1); special works on Imperial Federation, A. B. Keith, 
Imperial Unity and the Dominions (1916), R. Jebb, The Imperial Conference, 

2 vols. (191 1) and The Britannic Question: 'a Survey of Alternatives (1913), 
P. and A. Hurd, The New Empire Partnership (1915), T. H. Boggs, "The 
British Empire and Closer Union" (American Political Science Review, 
November, 1916), and G. B. Adams, "British Imperial Federation After the 
War" (Yale Review, July, 1916). 

India 

Sir T. W. Holderness, Peoples and Problems of India (1912), a good handy 
volume; Cambridge Modern History, vol. xi, ch. xxvi, vol. XII, ch. xvi; Sir 
J. B. Fuller, The Empire of India (1913); D. C. Boulger, India in the Nine- 
teenth Century (1901); The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 26 vols. (ed. 1907- 
09), a survey of Indian conditions written by specialists; L. Fraser, India 
under Curzon and After (191 1); the standard work on the Mutiny is Sir J. 
W. Kaye, History of the Sepoy War, 1857-1858, completed by G. B. Malleson, 

3 vols. (1879-80); on government, Sir Courtney Ilbert, The Government of 
India (ed. 1915) and Panchanandas Mukherji (editor), Indian Constitu- 
tional Documents, 1773-1913 (1915); on economic conditions, Sir Theodore 
Morison, The Economic Transition in India (191 1), Romesh Chunder Dutt, 
The Economic History of India under Early British Rule, from the Rise of 
the British Power in 1757 to the Accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 (ed. 
1906), and W. Digby, "Prosperous" British India: a Revelation from Official 
Records (1901), the last being a severe criticism of British rule on the eco- 
nomic side; the ablest opponent of British rule is the Indian nationalist, 
Lajpat Rai, whose books, Young India, an Interpretation and a History of 
the Nationalist Movement from Within (1916) and England's Debt to In- 
dia: a Historical Narrative of Britain's Fiscal Policy in India (1917), are 
severe indictments of the British occupation. 

Egypt 

Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt, 2 vols. (1908), the standard work on the 
history and problems of Egypt by the famous English administrator who 
ruled Egypt for almost a generation; E. Dicey, Story of the Khedivate (1902), 
a good popular account; G. W. Steevens, With Kitchener to Khartum (ed. 
1898), a vivid description by the famous war correspondent; W. S. Blunt, 
Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt (1907); A. E. P. B. Weigall, 
A History of Events in Egypt from 1798 to 1 91 4 (19 15); Cambridge Modern 
History, vol. XII, ch. xv. 

Canada 

Good short histories, Sir J. G. Bourinot, Canada under British Rule, 1760- 
1900 (1900) and C. G. D. Roberts, History of Canada (1897); on govern- 
ment, H. E. Egerton and W. L. Grant, Canadian Constitutional Develop- 
ment, shown by Selected Speeches and Despatches (1907), F. Bradshaw, Self- 
Government in Canada and How it was Achieved: the Story of Lord Durham's 
Report (1903), and Sir C. P. Lucas (editor), Lord Durham's Report on the 
Affairs of British North America, 3 vols. (1912); E. S. Montague and B. 
Herbert, Canada and the Empire: an Examination of Trade Preferences 
(1904). 

Australasia 

E. Jenks, History of the Australasian Colonies (1895) and J. D. Rogers, 
, Australasia (1907) are excellent studies; B. R. Wise, The Making of the 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 777 

Australian Commonwealth, 1889-icjoo: A Stage in the Growth of the Empire 
(19 1 3); H. G. Turner, The First Decade of the Australian Commonwealth: a 
Chronicle of Contemporary Politics, iqoi-iqio (191 1); interesting studies of 
the social experiments in Australia and New Zealand, H. D. Lloyd, Newest 
England (1900), F. Parsons, The Story of New Zealand (1904), and V. S. 
Clark, The Labor Movement in Australasia: a Study in Social Democracy 
(1906). 

South Africa 

Good brief accounts, G. M. Theal, South Africa (1900) and F. R. Cana, 
South Africa from the Great Trek to the Union (1909); James (Viscount) 
Bryce, Impressions of South Africa (1897), a study of problems and condi- 
tions prior to the Boer War; on the Boer War, Sir A. Conan Doyle, The War 
in South Africa, its Cause and Conduct (1902), pro-British, and J. A. Hobson, 
War in South Africa, its Cause and its Effects (1900), a severe criticism of the 
war by an English Liberal; Tlie Memoirs of Paul Kruger, Four Times Presi- 
dent of the South African Republic, Told by Himself, edited by A. Schowalter 
and trans, by A. T. de Mattos (1902); Briton and Boer: Both sides of the 
South African Question (1900), a collection of essays by eminent writers; 
on the Union of South Africa, R. H. Brand, The Union of South Africa 
(1909) and W. B. Worsfold, The Union of South Africa (1912). 

CHAPTER XVI 

Austria-Hungary since 1850 
General 

L. Leger, A History of Austria-Hungary from the Earliest Time to the Year 
i88q, trans, from the French by B. Hill (1889), an old but good history; 
H. W. Steed, The Hapsburg Monarchy (ed. 1914), an interesting discussion of 
its problems by a capable journalist; G. Drage, Austria-Hungary (1909), 
contains important information regarding political and economic matters. 

Government 

F. A. Ogg, The Governments of Europe, chs. xxiv-xxvii; A. L. Lowell, 
Governments and Parties in Continental Europe (1897), vol. II, chs. vm-x; 
A. de Bertha, La constitution hongroise (1898). 

Hungary 

C. M. Knatchbull-Hugessen, The Political Evolution of the Hungarian Na- 
tion, vol. 11 (1908), chs. xvii-xx; A. de Bertha, La Hongrie Moderne, 1849- 
1901 (1901). 

Dualism 

L. Eisenmann, Le Compromis austro-hongrois de 1867, etude sur le dual- 
isme (1904), the best study of the subject, contains good historical survey; 
R. Sieghart, Zolltrennung und Zolleinheit : die Geschichte der oesterreichisch- 
ungarischen Zwischenzoll-Linie (1915), a thorough study of the economic 
relations between Austria and Hungary. 

Race Questions 

The best authority in English on the race problems in Southeastern Europe 
is R. W. Seton-Watson, whose books, Racial Problems in Hungary (1908), 
The Southern Slav Question and the Habsburg Monarchy (191 1), and Ger- 
man, Slav, and Magyar (1916), are well written and reliable, sympathetic 
with the Slavs; B. Auerbach, Les races et les nationalites en Autriche-Hongrie 
(1898), a careful study of the racial composition of the Empire; E. Denis, 



778 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

La Boheme depuis la Montague- Blanche, 2 vols. (1903), vol. 11 gives history 
of Bohemia during the nineteenth century. 

For references to the foreign policies of Austria-Hungary, see bibliography 
under chapter xxix; and for those to the Eastern Question, under chapter 

XXVII. 

CHAPTER XVII 

The Kingdom of Italy 

General 

B. King and T. Okey, Italy To-day (ed. 1909), the best book on the sub- 
ject, discusses fully the social and political problems of contemporary Italy; 
W. R. Thayer, Italica (1908), essays on Italy since 1870 by the biographer 
of Cavour; Cinquanta Anni di Storia Italiana, 3 vols. (191 1), published by 
the Royal Academy of Lincei, contains articles on many phases of Italian 
life during the period 1860-1910, written by experts. 

Special Topics 

On Government, F. A. Ogg, The Governments of Europe, chs. xix-xxi 
and A. L. Lowell, The Governments of France, Italy, and Germany (1915); 
on economic conditions, E. Lemonon, L'ltalie economique et sociale, 1S61- 
IQ12 (1913); on expansion, W. K. Wallace, Greater Italy (191 7). 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The Iberian Peninsula 

Spain 

M. A. S. Hume, Modern Spain, 1788-1898 (1900), a good sketch; G. Hub- 
bard, Histoire contemporaine de I'Espagne, 6 vols. (1 869-1 883), an authori- 
tative work covering the first half of the nineteenth century; J. L. M. Curry, 
Constitutional Government in Spain (1889); Yves Guyot, U evolution politique 
et sociale de I'Espagne (1899); E. H. Strobel, The Spanish Revolution, 1868- 
1875 (1898); A. Marvaud, La question sociale en Espagne (1910) and L'Es- 
pagne au XX e siecle (1913); C. Perkins, "Social and Economic Problems 
of Modern Spain" (Political Science Quarterly, March, 1912). 

Portugal 

G. Diercks, Das moderne Portugal (1913); A. Marvaud, Le Portugal et ses 
colonies (1912); VV. Archer, "The Portuguese Republic" (Fortnightly, 
February, 191 1). 

CHAPTER XIX 

The Scandinavian States 

General 

R. N. Bain, Scandinavia, a Political History of Denmark, Norway, and 
Sweden, from 1513 to 1900 (1905); P. Drachman, The Industrial Development 
and Commercial Policies of the three Scandinavian Countries (1915); J. Carl- 
sen, H. Olrik, and C. N. Starcke, Le Danemark, etat actual de sa civilisation 
et de son organisation sociale (1900); K. Gjerset, History of the Norwegian 
People, 2 vols. (1915); G. Sundbarg (editor), Sweden, its People and Indus- 
tries (1904), a government report; on the controversy over the union see 
Fridtjof Nansen, Norway and the Union with Sweden (1905) for the Nor- 
wegian side, and K. Nordlund, The Swedish- Norwegian Union Crisis, a His- 
tory with Documents (1905) for the Swedish side. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 779 

Literature 

H. H. Boyesen, Essays on Scandinavian Literature (1895); E. Gosse, Hen- 
rik Ibsen (1913); Lind-af-Hageby, August Strindberg, the Spirit of Revolt 
(1913); A. Henderson, European Dramatists (1913); J. G. Hunecker, Icono- 
clasts (1905). 

CHAPTER XX 

Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland 

Holland and Belgium 

P. J. Blok, History of the People of the Netherlands, vol. v, Eighteenth and 
Nineteenth Centuries, trans, from the Dutch by Ruth Putnam (1912), the 
work of a distinguished Dutch historian; Clive Day, The Policy and Ad- 
ministration of the Dutch in Java (1904), an excellent study of Dutch colonial 
methods; C. Smythe, The Story of Belgium (1900); R. C. K. Ensor, Belgium 
(1900), a brief study from the Socialist standpoint; J. de C. MacDonnell, 
Belgium, her Kings, Kingdom, and People (1914), a similar volume from the 
Catholic standpoint; J. Barthelemy, U Organisation du suffrage et V experi- 
ence beige (1912), the best study of Belgian political institutions; Seebohm 
Rowntree, Land and Labour: Lessons from Belgium (1910), an excellent 
study of social conditions by the well-known English sociologist; L. Bert- 
rand, Histoire de la democratic et du socialisme en Belgique depuis 1830, 2 vols. 
(1906-07), a study of contemporary Belgian problems from the Socialist 
standpoint; C. Woeste, Echos des luttes comtemporaines, 2 vols. (1906), a 
similar study from the Catholic standpoint; J. Salwyn Schapiro, "The Bel- 
gian Political Situation" (Proceedings of the American Political Science 
Association, December, 191 2.) 

Switzerland 

P. Seippel (editor), La Suisse au dixneuvieme siecle, 3 vols. (1 899-1901), 
an authoritative work by a group of Swiss writers; W. Oechsli, Geschichte 
der Schweiz im neunzehtcn Jahrhundert, a work begun in 1903, which promises 
to be a standard history; W. D. McCrackan, Rise of the Swiss Republic (ed. 
1901), a historical outline, mainly political; on government, J. M. Vincent, 
Government in Switzerland (1900) and Ogg, chs. xxii-xxiii; on political 
and social reforms, H. D. Lloyd, A Sovereign People : A Study of Swiss 
Democracy (1907). 

CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII 

Russia 
General 

A. Rambaud, Histoire de la Russie depuis les origines jusqu'd, nos jours, 
an old standard work revised and completed to 1913 by E. Haumant (1914); 
there is an English translation of Rambaud by L. B. Long with additional 
chapters covering the period from 1877 to 1904 by G. Mercer Adam (1904); 
A. Kornilov, Modern Russian History, trans, from the Russian by A. S. 
Kaun, 2 vols. (1917), the best up-to-date general history, liberal in tone; 
T. Schiemann, Geschichte Russlands unter Kaiser Nikolaus I, 3 vols. (1904- 
13), the greatest German authority on Russia, conservative in viewpoint; 
H. G. Samson von Himmelstjerna, Russia under Alexander III and in the 
Preceding Period, trans, from the German by J. Morrison (1893). 

General Conditions 

There has been a widespread interest in Russia because of the unusual 
character of her people and institutions. Hence many volumes have been 



780 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

written describing and interpreting Russia to the world. Anatole Leroy- 
Beaulieu, The Empire of the Tsars and the Russians, trans, from the French 
by Z. A. Ragozin, 3 vols. (1893-96), an old but excellent study of Russian 
institutions, done in the best French manner, scholarly, interesting, and 
sympathetic, especially good for religious conditions; Sir D. M. Wallace, 
Russia (1908), the best general treatment in English, has the advantage of 
including the Revolution of 1905; excellent short descriptions of political 
and cultural conditions, H. W. Williams, Russia of the Russians (1914) and 
Maurice Baring, The Russian People (ed. 191 1); G. Alexinsky, Modern 
Russia, trans, from the Russian by B. Miall (1913), from the point of view 
of a Russian Socialist, good for Socialist parties in the Revolution of 1905; 
M. Kovalevsky, Russian Political Institutions, trans, from the Russian 
(1902), a brief but authoritative study by a Russian scholar; A. von Hax- 
thausen, Russian Empire, its People, Institutions, and Resources, trans, 
from the German, 2 vols. (1856), a famous work in its day, its description 
of the mir greatly influenced Russian opinion. 

Subject Races 

V. Berard, The Russian Empire and Czarism, trans, from the French by 
G. Fox-Davies and G. O. Pope (1905); on the Poles, Georg Brandes, Poland: 
a Study of the Land, People, and Literature (1903), N. Hill, Poland and 
the Polish Question (1915), and Cambridge Modern History, vol. x, ch. xiv; 
on the Jews, Israel Friedlaender, The Jews of Russia and Poland (1915), 
L. Wolf, The Legal Suffering of the Jews in Russia (1912), an account of the 
anti-Jewish laws, I. M. Rubinow, Economic Condition of the Jews in Russia 
(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, September, 1907, and Samuel Joseph, 
Jewish Emigration to the United States (1914); on the Finns, J. R. Fisher, 
Finland and the Tsars, i8oq-i8qq (1899). 

Economic Conditions 

James Mavor, An Economic History of Russia, 2 vols. (1914), the best 
treatment of the subject, contains an account of the revolutionary move- 
ment from the economic side; G. Drage, Russian Affairs (1904), a good 
brief study; M. Kovalevsky, Le regime economique de la Russie (1898); on 
the agrarian question, V. G. Simkhovitch, "The Agrarian Movement in 
Russia" (Yale Review, May, 1907) and R. T. Ely, "Russian Land Reform" 
(American Economic Review, March, 1916). 

Revolutionary Movement 

Peter (Prince) Kropotkin, Memoirs of a Revolutionist (1899), a fascinating 
account of life in Russia under Alexander II by the famous Russian scientist 
and revolutionist; Sergius Stepniak, pseudonym of a highly intellectual 
terrorist, gives vivid pictures of the revolutionary movement in the eighties 
and nineties in Underground Russia (1883) and Career of a Nihilist (1901); 
George Kennan, Siberia and the Exile System, 2 vols. (1897), an account by 
an American journalist which created a great impression at the time of 
publication, a terrible indictment of the exile system; Leo Deutsch, Sixteen 
Years in Siberia (1905), memoirs of a prominent Russian Socialist; Paul 
Miliukov, Russia and its Crisis (1905), an interpretation by the famous 
leader of the Russian Liberals; B. Pares, Russia and Reform (1907), by an 
authority on Russian affairs; William English Walling, Russia's Message 
(1908), an interpretation by an American Socialist, especially good for the 
peasants' part in the Revolution; M. Kovalevsky, La crise russe : notes et 
impressions d'un temoin (1906), the views of the eminent Russian scholar; 
L. Kulczycki, Ceschichte der russischen Revolution, trans, from the Polish into 
German (1910-14), the best and most scholarly treatment from the revolu- 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 781 

tionary point of view, three volumes have so far appeared dealing with the 
period 1825-1900; E. A. Goldenweiser, "The Russian Duma" {Political Sci- 
ence Quarterly, September, 191 4), a description of the electoral law for the 
third Duma; M. J. Olgin, The Soul of the Russian Revolution (1918), an an- 
alysis of the revolutionary movements of 1905 and 1917. 
Cultural 

Peter (Prince) Kropotkin, Russian Literature, Ideals, and Realities (1915); 
L. Wiener, An Interpretation of the Russian People (1915); Stephen Graham, 
Undiscovered Russia (1914); K. P. Pobedonostsev, Reflections of a Russian 
Statesman, trans, from the French by R. C. Long (1898), an able defense 
of absolutism and Orthodoxy by the famous Procurator of the Holy Synod; 
A. Bruckner, A Literary History of Russia, trans, from the German by H. 
Havelock (1908); W. Lyon Phelps, Essays on Russian Novelists (ed. 1916); 
Maurice Baring, Landmarks in Russian Literature (1910). 

For references to expansion see bibliography under chapter xxviii; for 
those to foreign affairs, under chapter xxix. 

CHAPTER XXIV 

Revolutionary Labor Movements 

Socialism: Sources 

Karl Marx, Capital: a Critique of Political Economy, trans, from the 
German, 3 vols., vol. 1, by S. Moore, vol. 11, by E. B. Aveling, vol. ill, by E. 
Untermann (1907-09), see p. 578; G. Deville, The People's Marx, a Popidar 
Epitome of Karl Marx's Capital, trans, from the French by R. R. La Monte 
(1900); Friedrich Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, trans, from the 
German by E. Aveling (ed. 191 1), a criticism of utopianism by the co- 
worker of Marx; The Communist Manifesto (see p. 578), trans, from the Ger- 
man in every European language and in many cheap editions; Ferdinand 
Lassalle, Reden und Schriften, 3 vols, a collection of his speeches and writings 
issued in 1892-95 and edited by Eduard Bernstein; Eduard Bernstein, 
Ferdinand Lassalle as a Social Reformer, trans, from the German by E. M. 
Aveling (1893); good source books, R. C. K. Ensor, Modern Socialism, as set 
forth by Socialists in their Speeches, Writings, and Programmes (ed. 19 10), 
Jane T. Stoddart, The New Socialism, and Impartial Inquiry (1909), and 
The Socialism of To-Day (1916), platforms and other important documents 
of the Socialist parties in the world, edited by William English Walling, 
J. G. Phelps Stokes, and others. 

Socialism: Expositions by Socialists 

John Spargo, an able American Socialist writer, Socialism: a Summary 
and Interpretation of Socialist Principles (ed. 1910), moderate and fair, and 
Karl Marx, his Life and Work (1910); J. Ramsay MacDonald, leader of 
the English Labor Party, The Socialist Movement (191 1), Socialism and 
Government, 2 vols. (1909), and Socialism and Society (1905); Karl Kautsky, 
leading German exponent of Marxism, The Social Revolution, trans, from 
the German by J. B. Askew (1907), The Class Struggle, trans, by W. E. 
Bohn (1910), and Ethics and the Materialist Conception of History, trans. 
from the German by J. B. Askew (1907); Eduard Bernstein, leading ex- 
ponent of revisionism, Evolutionary Socialism: a Criticism and an Affirma- 
tion, trans, from the German by E. C. Harvey (igoq); William English 
Walling, a leading American Socialist writer, Socialism as it is : a Survey 
of the World-Wide Revolutionary Movement (1912); Edmond Kelly, Twen- 
tieth Century Socialism (1910); Morris Hillquitt, the leader of the Ameri- 
can Socialists, Socialism in Theory and Practice (1909); L. B. Boudin, The 



782 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Theoretical System of Karl Marx in the Light of Recent Criticism (1907): 
Fabian Essays in Socialism (1909), a collection of essays by prominent Eng- 
lish Socialists, see p. 593; Compere-Morel (editor), Encyclopedic socialiste, 
8 vols. (1912-13), covers every phase of the Socialist movement, especially 
good for France. 

Socialism: Criticism by Anti-Socialists 

O. D. Skelton, Socialism: A Critical Analysis (191 1), a brief but excel- 
lent study, one of the best replies to socialism; A. Schaffle, The Quintes- 
sence of Socialism, trans, from the German by B. Bosanquet (1880); Paul 
Leroy-Beaulieu, Collectivism, abridged trans, by Sir A. Clay (1908); W. H. 
Mallock, A Critical Examination of Socialism (1907); J. A. Ryan, Distri- 
butive Justice (1916) and Henry C. Day, S.J., Catholic Democracy: Indi- 
vidualism and Socialism (1914), criticisms from the Roman Catholic stand- 
point; V. G. Simkhovitch, Marxism versus Socialism (1913); the London 
Contemporary Review, August, 1906, contains the report of a famous 
debate on socialism in the French Chamber between the Socialist, Jaures, 
and the Radical, Clemenceau. 

Socialism: History 

J. Rae, Contemporary Socialism (ed. 1908), the best general history of the 
movement, written by a non-Socialist, but fair in its treatment; T. Kirkup, 
A History of Socialism, revised and largely rewritten by E. R. Pease (1913). 
an excellent small volume sympathetic with socialism; W. Sombart, Social- 
ism and the Socialist Movement, trans, by M. Epstein (1909), a sympathetic 
description by a non-Socialist; R. T. Ely, French and German Socialism in 
Modem Times (1898), good for descriptions of the Utopians; J. Longuet, 
Le Mouvement socialiste international (1913), by a prominent French Socialist; 
Le parti socialiste en France (1912), vol. 11 of Encyclopedic socialiste; Franz 
Mehring, Geschichte der deutschen Sozialdemokratie (1904), the standard 
work on German socialism, written by a Socialist; August Bebel, My Life, 
trans, from the German (1912), the autobiography of the famous German 
Socialist; Carlton J. H. Hayes, "The History of German Socialism Recon- 
sidered" {American Historical Review, October, 1917), a valuable study; 
F. J. Shaw, The Socialist Movement in England (1908); M. Beer, Geschichte 
des Sozialismus in England (1913); S. P. Orth, Socialism and Democracy in 
Europe (1913) and Robert Hunter, Socialists' at Work (1908), excellent popu- 
lar descriptions of the European Socialist parties and leaders, Orth's book 
contains reprints of important Socialist documents. 

Anarchism 

P. J. Proudhon, What is Property? trans, from the French by B. R. 
Tucker, 2 vols. (1902), see p. 598; Paul Eltzbacher, Anarchism (1908), con- 
sists mainly of extracts from the writings of prominent anarchists; E. V. 
Zenker, Anarchism: a Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory, trans, 
from the German (1898); Benjamin R. Tucker, Instead of a Book (1897), 
an exposition of anarchism by an American anarchist. 

Syndicalism 

Georges Sorel, Reflections on Violence, trans, from the French by T. E. 
Hulme (1916), see p. 602; Louis Levine, The Labor Movement in France 
(1912), the best study of syndicalist ideals and of the movement in France; 
Hubert Lagardelle, Le Socialisme Ouvrier (1911), by a prominent French 
syndicalist; Robert Hunter, Violence and the Labor Movement (1914). by 
a Socialist opposed to syndicalism. A. R. Orage (editor), National Guilds; 
an Inquiry into the Wage System and the Way Out (1914), advocates a scheme, 
guild socialism, in which each trade and profession constitutes an industrial 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 783 

unit, a "guild," wherein wealth is produced and profits are shared; the 
common interests of the guilds are directed by a political state, hence the 
scheme is a combination of syndicalism and socialism. 

CHAPTER XXV 

The Woman's Movement 
General 

W. L. Blease, The Emancipation of English Women (19 10), a narrative of 
the struggles for equality of the English women by a sympathizer; Kaethe 
Schirmacher, The Modern Woman's Rights Movement (1912), a description of 
the movement in all countries; E. R. Hecker, Short History of Woman's 
Rights (19 10); Lily Braun, Die Frauenfrage: ihre geschichtliche Entwick- 
lung und wirtschaftliche Seite (1910); Gaston Richard, La Femme dans 
I'histoire (1909). 

Feminism 

Charlotte P. Gilman, Women and Economics (ed. 1910), a plea for cooper- 
ative housekeeping and the economic independence of women by the lead- 
ing American feminist; Ellen Key, Love and Marriage, trans, from the Swed- 
ish by A. G. Chater (19 12) and The Woman Movement, trans, from the 
Swedish by M. B. Borthwick (1912), two well-known books by the leading 
feminist of Europe; W. L. George, Women and To-morrow (1913), a plea 
for a radical change in the position of woman in society; Olive Schreiner, 
Women and Labour (191 1), an eloquent defense of woman's contribution to 
civilization; Mary Austin, Love and the Soul Maker (1914), by a prominent 
American writer; "Feminism and Woman Suffrage" {Annals of the Ameri- 
can Academy of Political and Social Science, November, 1914); Mrs. C. G. 
Hartley, The Truth about Woman (1914); B. L. Hutchins, Women in Modern 
Industry (19 15). 

English Suffrage Movement 

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (ed. 1891), 
see p. 605; John Stuart Mill, Subjection of Women (ed. 191 1), see p. 607; 
E. R. Turner, "The Women's Suffrage Movement in England" {Ameri- 
can Political Science Review, November, 1913); Emmeline Pankhurst, The 
Suffragette: The History of the Women's Militant Suffrage Movement (1912), 
by the famous "suffragette"; A. V. Dicey, Letters to a Friend on Votes for 
Women (1909), by an anti-suffragist; J. Salwyn Schapiro, "Aspects of 
the English Suffrage Movement" {Forum, March, 1914); A. E. Metcalfe, 
Woman's Effort: a Chronicle of British Women's Fifty Years' Struggle for 
Citizenship {1865-1914) (19 17). 

Woman's Movement in other Countries 

Katherine Anthony, Feminism in Germany and Scandinavia (1915); "The 
Woman's Movement in Germany" {New Statesman, November 29, 1913); 
J. Castberg, "Legal Position of Women in Norway" {Nineteenth Century, 
February, 1912); F. Buisson, Le Vote des fcmmes (1911); C. Dawbarn, 
"The French Women and the Vote" {Fortnightly Review, August, 1911). 

CHAPTER XXVI 

Science 
General 

Robinson and Beard, vol. 11, pp. 405-22, an excellent resume ; Cambridge 
Modem History, vol. XII, ch. xxiv; Histoire generate, vol. x, ch. xx, vol. xi, 
ch. xxv, vol. xii, ch. xvii ; W. T. Sedgwick and H. W. Tyler, A Short 



784 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

History of Science (1917); H. S. Williams, A History of Science, 10 vols. 
(1904-10); W. Libby, An Introduction to the History of Science (1917); 
J. T. Merz, A History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century, 4 vols. 
(1896-1914), contains valuable chapters on scientific progress; J.A.Thomson, 
Introduction to Science (191 1); Alfred Russel Wallace, The Wonderful Cen- 
tury : its Successes and its Failures (1898); Alfred Russel Wallace (and others), 
The Progress of the Century (1901); E. Ray Lankester, The Kingdom of Man 
(1907). 

Special Sciences 

Consult the works of famous scientists such as Darwin, Huxley, Tyndal, 
Spencer, Haeckel, Pasteur, and Lyell. Sir T. E. Thorpe, Essays in His- 
torical Chemistry (191 1); W. A. Locy, Biology and its Makers (ed. 1915); 
A. Geikie, The Founders of Geology (1905). 



CHAPTER XXVII 

The Near Eastern Question 

General 

E. Driault, La Question d'Orient depuis ses origines jusqu'ei la Grande 
Guerre (ed. 1917), the standard work on the Near Eastern Question in all 
its aspects; W. Miller, The Ottoman Empire, 1801-IQ13 (1913), the best gen- 
eral history of the subject in English, contains good accounts of the in- 
dividual states; S. P. Duggan, The Eastern Question; A Study in Diplomacy 
(1902), a brief but excellent treatment by an American authority on the 
subject; L. Villari (editor), The Balkan Question: the Present Condition of 
the Balkans and of European Responsibilities (1905), essays by scholars of 
many nations; Lord Courtney (editor), Nationalism in the Near East (1915), 
essays on the ambitions and rivalries of the Balkan States; R. W. Seton- 
Watson, The Rise of Nationality in the Balkans (1917); A. H. E. Taylor, 
The Future of the Southern Slavs (1917); H. N. Brailsford, Macedonia: Its 
Races and their Future (1906); N. Forbes (and others), The Balkans: A His- 
tory of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Roumania, Turkey (1915); J. H. Rose, The 
Development of the European Nations, 18/0-1900, vol. 1, ch. vn-x. 

Turkey 

S. Lane-Poole, The Story of Turkey (1897), a clearly written as well as a 
reliable summary of Turkish history; N. Jorga, Geschichte des osmanischen 
Reiches, vol. V (1913), considered the standard work on Turkey; T. G. 
Djuvara, Cent projets de partage de la Turquie, 1281-1913 (1914). written by 
a Rumanian diplomat, contains recent treaties; on the Turkish Revolution, 
C. R. Buxton, Turkey in Revolution (1909) and R. Pinon, VEurope et la 
jeune Turquie: les aspects nouveaux de la question d'Orient (191 1); Sir E. 
Pears, Turkey and its People (ed. 1912), an intimate study by an English- 
man long resident in Turkey. 

The Christian States 

W. Miller, The Balkans: Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro 
(ed. 1908), by the well-known authority on the subject; L. Leger, Serbes, 
Croates et Bulgares; etudes historiques, politiques, et litter aire (19 13); o n 
Greece, L. Sergent, Greece in the Nineteenth Century: A Record of Hellenic 
Emancipation and Progress, 1821-1897 (1897) and P. F. Martin, Greece 
of the Twentieth Century (1913); on Bulgaria, Edward Dicey, The Peas- 
ant State: an Account of Bulgaria in 1894 (1894) and G. Songeon, His- 
toire de la Bulgarie depuis les origines jusqu'et nos jours, 485-1913 ( IQI 3)»* 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 785 

on Rumania, N. Jorga, Geschichte des rumdnischen Volkes in Rahmen seiner 
Stattsbildungen, 2 vols. (1905) and O. Brilliant, Roumania (1915); on 
Serbia, W. M. Petrovitch, Serbia, her People, History, and Aspirations 
(1915) and Prince and Princess Lazarovich-Hrebelianovitch, The Servian 
People; their Past Glory and their Destiny, 2 vols. (1910); on Montenegro, 
F. S. Stevenson, A History of Montenegro (1912). 

Austria and the Balkans 

T. von Sosnosky, Die Balkanpolitik Oeslerreich-Ungarns seit 1866, 2 vols. 
(1913-14), pro-Austrian; G. M. Trevelyan, The Servians and Austria 
(1914), anti-Austrian; R. W. Seton-Watson, The Southern Slav Question 
and the Habsburg Monarchy (191 1), sympathetic with the Slavs. 

Special 

Sir Thomas Barclay, The Turco-Italian War and its Problems (1912), by a 
noted English diplomat; J. G. Schurman, The Balkan Wars, 1912-1013 
(1914), the best short history; Report of the International Commission to 
inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars (19 14), by the Carne- 
gie Endowment for International Peace; "Balkan Treaties, 1912-1913" 
{American Journal of International Law, vol. vin, no. 1, supplement); the 
problems arising from the Balkan Wars are treated with knowledge and in- 
sight by S. P. Duggan in his articles in the Political Science Quarterly, March 
and December, 191 3. 

CHAPTER XXVIII 
The Expansion of Europe 

General 

Excellent summaries are to be found in Hayes, vol. 11, chs. xxvii-xxvin, 
and in Robinson and Beard, vol. 11, ch. xxx; A. G. Keller, Colonization : a 
Study of the Founding of New Societies (1908), a sociological treatise; Paul 
Leroy-Beaulieu, De la colonisation chez les peuples modernes, 2 vols. (ed. 
1908), the best French work on the subject; A. Zimmermann, Die euro- 
pdischen Kolonien, 5 vols. (1896-1903), a detailed study of European ex- 
pansion, contains good maps; H. C. Morris, The History of Colonization, 
2 vols. (1908); J. W. Root, Colonial Tariffs (1906), good for economic condi- 
tions; on colonial government, P. S. Reinsch, Colonial Government (1902) 
and Colonial Administration (1904); J. A. Hobson, Imperialism: a Study 
(1902), a criticism of expansion, mainly on economic grounds, by an anti- 
imperialist; on the missionary movement, J. S. Dennis, Christian Missions 
and Social Progress, 3 vols. (1 897-1906) and R. E. Spear, Missions and 
Modern History : a Study of the Missionary Aspects of some Great Movements 
of the Nineteenth Century, 2 vols. (1904) ; for Catholic missions consult articles 
in the Catholic Encyclopedia. 

The Far East 

Cambridge Modern History, vol. xi, ch. xxvin, vol. xn, chs. xvn-xxix; 
Histoire generate, vol. x, chs. xxvii-xxvin, vol. xi, ch. xx, vol. xii, chs. 
xxiv-xxv; Sir R. K. Douglas, Europe and the Far East, 1506-1912 (ed. 
1913), the best short account; E. Driault, La question d' extreme Orient (1908), 
an excellent study by a recognized French authority; P. S. Reinsch, World 
Politics at the End of the Nineteenth Century (1900) and Intellectual and 
Political Currents in the Far East (191 1), two admirable short studies on 
social, economic, and cultural conditions in China and Japan; T. F. Mil- 
lard, America and the Far Eastern Question (1909), an explanation of Amer- 
ica's interest in China. 



786 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

China 

H. A. Giles, China and the Chinese (1902), The Civilization of China (191 1), 
and China and the Manchus (1912), are excellent introductory studies of 
Chinese problems; Sir R. K. Douglas, The Story of China (1901), a handy 
outline; H. Cordier, Histoire des relations de la Chine avec les puissances occi- 
dentales, 3 vols. (1901-02), the standard French work; P. H. Clements, An 
Outline of the Politics and Diplomacy of China and the Powers, 1894-1902 
(1915), a good account of the international problems arising from the Boxer 
movement; on the Revolution, P. H. Kent, The Passing of the Manchus 
(1912). 

Japan 

F. Brinkley and Baron Kikuchi, A History of the Japanese People from the 
Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era (191 5), the best general history 
in English; W. W. McLaren, A Political History of Japan (1916); R. P. 
Porter, Japan (1918); W. E. Griffis, The Mikado's Empire (ed. 1903), a 
good popular description; Count Okuma (editor), Fifty Years of New Japan, 
trans, from the Japanese by M. B. Huish, 2 vols. (1909), a series of studies 
by Japanese writers; J. H. Longford, The Evolution of New Japan (1913); 
Marquis de La Mazeliere, Le Japon : Histoire et civilisation, 5 vols. (1907-10) ; 
on government, T. Iyenaga, The Constitutional Development of Japan, 1853- 
1881 (1891), T. Gollier, Essai sur les institutions politiques du Japon (1903), 
and Japanese Government Documents, 1867-1889 (1914), published by the 
Asiatic Society of Japan, documents illustrative of the transition period; 
K. K. Kawakami, Japan in World Politics (1917), a defense of her policies 
by a Japanese. 

The Russo-Japanese War 

K. Asakawa, The Russo-Japanese Conflict: Its Causes and Issues (1904), 
favorable to Japan; A. N. Kuropatkin, The Russian Army and the Jap- 
anese War, partially translated from the Russian by A. B. Lindsay, 2 vols. 
(1909), a defense of Russia by the Russian commander-in-chief; A. S. 
Hershey, The International Law and Diplomacy of the Russo-Japanese War 
(1906). 

Expansion of Russia 

J. H. Rose, The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1900, vol. II, 
chs. 11, in, ix; F. H. Skrine, The Expansion of Russia (ed. 1913), the best 
brief treatment; Alfred Rambaud, The Expansion of Russia: Problems of the 
East and Problems of the Far East (ed. 1904); C. F. Wright, Asiatic Russia, 
2 vols. (1902), an authoritative survey of conditions, political, economic, 
and racial; Armin Vambery, Western Culture in Eastern Lands: a Compari- 
son of the Methods adopted by England and Russia in the Middle East (1906), 
by a famous traveler and Orientalist, favorable to England. 

Persia 

P. M. Sykes, A History of Persia, 2 vols. (1915), especially good for modern 
conditions; W. M. Shuster, The Strangling of Persia: a Record of European 
Diplomacy and Oriental Intrigue (1912), a severe indictment of Russia's and 
England's policies in Persia by the American financial adviser to the Per- 
sian Parliament; E. G. Browne, The Persian Revolution of 1905-1909 (1910). 

Africa 

J. H. Rose, The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1900, vol. 11, 
chs. iv-vni; Sir Edward Hertslet, The Map of Africa by Treaty, 3 vols, 
(ed. 1909), an indispensable source, contains all important treaties relative 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 787 

to the partition of Africa; Sir H. H. Johnston, The Opening Up of Africa 
(191 1) and A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races (ed. 1913), 
excellent studies by a competent authority, sympathetic with the natives; 
J. S. Keltie, The Partition of Africa (1895); David Livingstone, Missionary 
Travels and Researches in South Africa (ed. i860) and Last Journals in 
Central Africa from 1865 to his Death, edited by H. Waller (1875); H. H. 
Johnston, Livingstone and the Exploration of Central Africa (1897); Sir 
H. M. Stanley, How I found Livingstone : Travels and Adventures in Central 
Africa (1872), Through the Dark Continent, or the Sources of the Nile, 2 vols. 
(1878), In Darkest Africa (ed. 1897), and Congo and the Founding of its Free 
Stale, 2 vols. (1885); N. D. Harris, Intervention and Colonization in Africa 
(1914); H. A. Gibbons, The New Map of Africa (1916). 

For references to the expansion of England see bibliography under chapter 
xv ; for France, under chapter xi; for Germany, under chapter xn. 

CHAPTER XXIX 

International Relations (1870-1914) 
General 

C. Seymour, The Diplomatic Background of the War, 1870-1914 (1916), 
an excellent summary, clearly written, impartial; L. H. Holland and A. W. 
Chilton, The History of Europe from 1862 to 1914 (1917), mainly diplomatic 
and military; J. H. Rose, The Development of the European Nations, 1S70- 
iqoo, 2 vols. (1905), mainly on international affairs and expansion; H. A. 
Gibbons, The New Map of Europe (1915), a suggestive review of inter- 
national policies since the Balkan Wars; A. Debidour, Histoire diplomatique 
de l' Europe depuis le Congres de Berlin jusqu'd, nos jours (1917), by a well- 
known authority; Arthur Bullard, The Diplomacy of the Great War (1916), 
a readable discussion of international problems since 1878; W. M. Fuller- 
ton, Problems of Power (ed. 1915), a discussion of international problems from 
1870 to 1911; Walter Lippmann, The Stakes of Diplomacy (1915), a well- 
written, suggestive discussion of the interaction of business and imperial- 
ism in modern diplomacy; H. N. Brailsford, The War of Steel and Gold 
(19 14), a study from a similar point of view by an anti-imperialist; Sir 
Harry Johnston, Common Sense in Foreign Policy (1913); P. Albin, Les 
grands traites politiques : receuil des principaux textes diplomatiques depuis 
1815 jusqu'd, nos jours (ed. 191 1), collection of texts of important treaties. 

German Foreign Policies 

Ernst (Count) zu Reventlow, Deutschlands auswartige Politik, 1888-1913 
(1914), a thorough study by a Pan-German writer of wide influence in Ger- 
many; T. Schiemann, Deutschland und die grosse politik, anno 1901-1914 
(1902-15), written by the foreign editor of the influential Pan-German Kreuz- 
zeitung; P. Rohrbach, German World Policies, trans, from the German by 
E. von Mach (1915) and Germany's Isolation: an Exposition of the Eco- 
nomic Causes of the War, trans, from the German by P. H. Phillipson (19 15), 
two little books widely read in Germany; G. W. Prothero, German Policy be- 
fore the War (1916), an English view; A. C. Coolidge, The Origins of the 
Triple Alliance (1917), by a close student of European diplomacy; F. Nau- 
mann, Central Europe, trans, from the German by C. M. Meredith (19 17), a 
plea for an economic union of Germany and Austria; M. Jastrow, The 
War and the Bagdad Railway (19 18), an analysis of Germany's exploita- 
tion of Turkey; Andre Cheradame, The P anger man Plot Unmasked, (1917), 
the best study of Pan-Germanism from the anti-German point of view; 
Herman Bernstein (editor), The Willy-Nicky Papers (1917), containing 



788 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

secret correspondence between the German Emperor and the Tsar; Munroe 
Smith, Militarism and Statescraft (1918), an illuminating study of German 
ideals and policies. For further references consult bibliography under chap- 
ter XII. 

England's Foreign Policies 

Bernadotte Everly Schmitt, England and Germany, 1740-IQ14 (1916), an 
excellent study of England's foreign policies, particularly for the period 
after 1870, defends England as against Germany; Gilbert Murray, The 
Foreign Policy of Sir Edward Grey, 1906-1915 (1915), a defense of the Eng- 
lish Foreign Minister; G. H. Perris, Our Foreign Policy and Sir Edward 
Grey's Failure (1912), an attack on the English Foreign Minister; G. L. 
Beer, The English-Speaking Peoples, their Future Relations and Joint Inter- 
national Obligations (191 7), a plea for closer Anglo-American Cooperation 
by a recognized authority on British colonial affairs. 

France's Foreign Policies 

Andre Tardieu, France and the Alliances : the Struggle for the Balance of 
Power (1908), by a well-known French writer on diplomacy; R. Pinon, 
France et Allemagne, 1870-1913 (ed. 1913); G. Hanotaux, La politique de 
Vequilibre, 190J- 1911 (1912). 

Militarism 

F. von Bernhardi, Germany and the Next War, trans, from the German by 
A. H. Powles (1912), a plea for war as a "biological necessity" by a German 
military philosopher; J. A. Cramb, The Origins and Destiny of Imperial 
Britain and Nineteenth-Century Europe (ed. 1915), a chauvinistic plea for 
British imperialism; A. T. Mahan, Armaments and Arbitration : or the Place 
of Force in the International Relations of States (1912), a criticism of pacifism 
by the distinguished writer on naval affairs; C. von der Goltz, A Nation in 
Arms, condensed and translated from the German by F. A. Ashworth (191 5), 
an authoritative statement of the German military system; E. F. Henderson, 
Germany's Fighting Machine (1914), by a German sympathizer; A. S. Hurd 
and H. Castle, German Sea Power, its Rise, Progress, and Economic Basis 
(1913), a good account from the English viewpoint; J. Leyland, The Royal 
Navy: its Influence in English History and in the Growth of the Empire (1914). 

Pacifism 

Norman Angell, The Great Illusion (ed. 1914), a highly original study of 
the effects of war, see p. 697; by the same author, Foundations of Inter- 
national Polity (1914); I. S. Bloch, The Future of War in its Technical, Eco- 
nomic, and Political Relations: Is War now Impossible? trans, from the 
Russian by R. C. Long (ed. 1902), see p. 697; E. B. Krehbiel, Nationalism, 
War, and Society (1916), an excellent syllabus of international relations and 
of the peace movement; D. S. Jordan, War and Waste: a Series of Discussions 
of War and War Accessories (1913), a plea for universal peace by a prominent 
American pacifist; Nicholas Murray Butler, International Mind: an Argu- 
ment for the Judicial Settlement of International Disputes (1913), a logical 
and illuminating plea for international arbitration; B. A. W. Russell, 
Justice in War-Time (1916), a criticism of diplomacy from the point of view 
of an English pacifist; J. C. Faries, The Rise of Internationalism (1915), 
a compilation of the various international unions, agreements, and socie- 
ties; on the "Hague Peace Conferences," J. B. Scott, The Hague Peace Con- 
ferences of 1899 and 1907, 2 vols. (1909), W. I. Hull, The Two Hague Peace 
Conferences and their Contributions to International Law (1908), J. W. Foster, 
Arbitration and The Hague Court (1904), and G. G. Wilson (editor), The 
Hague Arbitration Cases (1915). 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 789 

CHAPTER XXX 
The World War 
Sources 

The various diplomatic papers issued by the nations known as the 
White Book, Yellow Book, Orange Book, etc., are published by the "Ameri- 
can Association for International Conciliation"; Collected Diplomatic Docu- 
ments Relating to the Outbreak of the European War, published by Harrison 
and Sons, London; The London Times "Documentary History of the War"; 
J. B. Scott, Diplomatic Documents relating to the Outbreak of the European 
War (1916); E. C. Stowell, The Diplomacy of the War of IQ14; E. R. O. von 
Mach, Official Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the Euro- 
pean War (1916), withdrawn from circulation by the publishers (Macmil- 
lans) owing to editorial bias in favor of Germany; President Woodrow 
Wilson's addresses and papers, published by the Committee on Public 
Information, Washington, D.C. 

Current Histories 

The best and most reliable is The International Yearbook, 1914 ff. ; J. 
Buchan, Nelson's History of the War (1915 ff.), the best English serial his- 
tory ; Guerre de 191 4 : documents officielles, textes legislatifs et rcglementaires 
(1914 ff), official publication, the best French serial history; C. H. Baer, 
Der Volkerkrieg, eine Chronik der Ereignisse seit dem 1 Juli IQ14 (19 15 ff.), 
the best German serial history. Some of the newspapers have published 
current histories of the war, the best of which are those issued by the Man- 
chester Guardian, the New York Times, and the London Times ; The New 
Europe a noteworthy weekly publication, started in England during the war, 
discusses the issues from a progressive viewpoint. 

General Histories 

Needless to say, nearly all the histories of the World War are partisan, 
many of them bitterly so. The best brief treatment, accurate and fairly 
impartial, is that in The New International Encyclopedia, article, "War in 
Europe"; The New International Year Book, for 1914 and succeeding years, 
contains summaries of the events; S. B. Harding, A Syllabus of the Great 
War (1918), an exhaustive syllabus covering every phase, published by the 
History Teachers Magazine; good summaries, O. P. Chitwood, The Imme- 
diate Causes of the Great War (1917) and S. S. Scheip and A. Bingham (edi- 
tors), Handbook of the European War, 2 vols. (1914-16); G. H. Allen, H. 
C. Whitehead, and F. E. Chadwick, The Great War (1915-16), vols, i-iii, 
good, clear account for general reader; Yves Guyot, The Causes and Conse- 
quences of the War, trans, from the French by F. A. Holt (1916), a good 
analysis, economic, political, and historical, from the French viewpoint; 
Modem Germany in Relation to the Great War, by various German writers, 
trans, by W. W. Whitelock (1916), the best from the German viewpoint, 
chapters written by well-known German historians and economists, such 
as Oncken, Schumacher, and Hintze; from the British viewpoint J. Holland 
Rose, The Origins of the War, 1871-1914 (1914) and E. P. Barker and other 
members of the Oxford Faculty of Modern History, Why We are at War : 
Great Britain's Case (1914); The War of Democracy : the Allies Statement 
(1917)- 

Military 

F. H. Simonds, The Great War (1914 ff.), a lucid explanation of the cam- 
paigns by an exceptionally able journalist and student; A. M. Murray, 
The Fortnightly History of the War, by the military expert of the London 



790 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

monthly, The Fortnightly; P. Azan, The War of Positions (1Q17) and The 
Warfare of Today (191 8), clear explanations of the strategy ot the World 
War; D. W. Johnson, Topography and Strategy in the War (1917), valuable 
for an understanding of the war areas; H. Barbusse, Under Fire, trans, 
from the French by F. Wray (1917), a vivid picture of life at the front; 
C. R. Gibson, War Inventions and How They Were Invented (1917), useful 
for knowledge of war machinery. 

Special 

On the neutrality of Belgium, C. de Visscher, Belgium's Case : a Juridical 
Enquiry, trans, from the French by E. F. Jourdain (1916), a concise, clear 
presentation of the case; R. W. Seton-Watson (and others), The War and 
Democracy (1914), an interesting review of nineteenth-century history by 
competent English writers; on nationality and the World War, A. J. Toyn- 
bee, Nationality and the War (191 5) and L. Dominian, The Frontiers of 
Language and Nationality in Europe (1917); on socialism and the World 
War, W. E. Walling, The Socialists and the War (1915) and L. B. Boudin, 
Socialism and the War (191 7); The Problems and Lessons of the War, Clark 
University Addresses (1915), essays covering many aspects of the World 
War. 

Current Publications 
Annuals 

The New International Year Book (1907 ff.), edited by F. M. Colby, a 
survey of the year's events; The American Year Book : a Record of Events and 
Progress (1910 ff.), edited by S. N. D. North, mainly of American affairs; 
Record of Political Events (1916 ff.), summary published by the Political 
Science Quarterly as a supplement; The Annual Register, an English pub- 
lication since 1758, a resume of the year's events mainly British; L'annce 
politique, a similar publication in French from 1874 to 1905, continued as 
La vie politique dans les deux mondes, edited by A. Viallate; Europdischer 
Geschichtskalender (1861 ff.), a similar work in German; The Statesman's 
Year Book (1864 ff.), English publication, descriptive and statistical an- 
nual of all the countries of the world, very reliable; HazelVs Annual (1886 ff.) 
and Joseph Whitaker's Almanack (1868 ff.) contain miscellaneous informa- 
tion, mainly British; The Year Book of Social Progress (1912 ff.), an Eng- 
lish publication dealing with social legislation and social reform; The British 
and Foreign State Papers (1812 ff.), valuable source for international relations. 

American Current Publications 

Political Science Quarterly, American Political Science Review, Current 
Events, Review of Reviews, North American Review, New Republic, Inde- 
pendent, Survey, and Nation. 

British 

Weekly edition of the London Times, Nation, Spectator, New Statesman, 
Tablet, New Age, Fortnightly, Contemporary, Nineteenth Century and After, 
Edinburgh Review, Dublin Review, Quarterly Review, and The Round Table. 

French 

Weekly edition of the Journal des dcbats, Revue politique et parlementaire, 
Le Correspondent, Revue de Paris, L'Opinion, La Grande Revue, La Revue, 
and Revue des Deux Mondes. 

German 

Weekly edition of the Frankfurter Zeitung, Echo, Zukunft, Ncue Zeit, 
Neue Rundschau, Allgemeine Zeitung, Zeitschrift fur Politik, and Preusssiche 
Jahrbucher. 



INDEX 



Abdul Hamid II, of Turkey, 633, 641, 642- 

643 
Aberdeen, Lord, 73 
Absolutism, see Divine Right 
Abyssinia, 454, 679 
Act of Union, 385 
Adowa, battle of, 454, 679 
Adrianople, treaty of, 628 
Aehoenthal, Baron von, 437, 706 
Afghanistan, 401, 673 
Africa, 454, 471; exploration of, 675-678; 

partition of, 678-681 
Agadir incident, 701 

Agriculture, old methods of, 52-53; revolu- 
tion in, 53-56; scientific, 301, 614-615; 

British, 35»-355. 359-36o; Danish, 474; 

French, 247-248; German, 301-302, 310; 

Irish, 388-391; Italian, 448; Russian, 537-r 

539, 567-568 
Ahmed Mirza, 674 
Airplanes, 724. 
Aisne, battle of the, 755 
Aix-la-Chapelle, congress of, 21 
Alabama Claims, 74, 333 
Albania, 623-624, 641, 645, 648-649, 686 
Albert I, ©f Belgium, 494, 716 
Albert, of Saxe-Coburg, 67 
Alexander, of Bulgaria, 635, 636 
Alexander, of Greece, 735 
Alexander I, of Russia, 23, 461, 501-504 
Alexander II, of Russia, 507-520, 532, 633 
Alexander III, of Russia, 524-528, 546 
Alexander, of Serbia, 639-640, 706 
Algeciras Congress, 701 
Algeria, 240, 681 
Algiers, see Algeria 
Allemane, 591 
Allenby, General, 754 
Alma, battle of, 630 
Alphonso XII, of Spain, 464 
Alphonso XIII, of Spain, 464, 465 
Alsace-Lorraine, 193, 289, 299-300, 302, 316- 

317, 655 
Amadeo, Prince, 463 
Ampere, 615 
Amundsen, 620 
Anaesthesia, 618 
Anam, 240, 660 

Anarchism, 452, 586, 594, 597-598 
Ancien regime, 1-6, 10, 89 
Andersen, Hans Christian, 478 
Andrassy, Count, 426 
Angell, Norman, 697-698 
Anglican Church, 48, 333, 339, 340-341. 342, 

388 
Annunzio, Gabriele d', 457-458 
Anti-clericalism, 156, 159, 207, 210, 232, 240, 

257-258, 285, 290-291, 292, 432, 434, 466, 

470-471, 490 
Anti-Corn Law League, 70 
Anti-Militarism, 269, 292, 698, 710. {See 

Militarism) 



Anti-Semitism, see Jews 

Antisepsis, 618-619 

Arabia, 645 

Arabi Pasha, 405 

Arago, 615 

Arch, Joseph, 346 

Arkwright, 29 

Armenians, 530, 555, 624, 641 

Armies, see Militarism 

Arndt, 126, 128, 136 

Arnold, Matthew, 373 

Arriaga, 470 

Arrondisscmcnts, 235 

Artois, Count of, see Charles X, of France 

Aspromonte, battle of, 219 

Asquith, 357, 358, 360, 363, 396, 751 

Associations cultuelles, 261, 262, 263 

Association Law, 259-260 

Assuan dam, 406 

Atlantic cable, 33 

Atomic theory, 614 

Atrocities, German, 727, 735 

Ausgleich, see Compromise of 1867 

Australia, 411-412, 422 

Australian ballot, 334 

Austria, and the Congress of Vienna, 18; and 
Prussia, 122-123; revolution of 1848 in, 
131-135; reaction in, 138; and the Crimean 
War, 630; and Italy, 199, 201; union with 
Hungary, 425-427; race problems in, 427- 
431; government of, 431; political history 
of (1867-1914), 431-437 

Austria-Hungary, Dual Monarchy of, 425- 
427; and the Balkans, 685, 706-708; and 
Germany, 685, 686; and Russia, 684-685; 
and Turkey, 635, 645, 649; and the World 
War, 710-712 

Austro-Sardinian War, 155, 162, 212-214, 
425 

Avogadro, 614 

Azeo, 548-549 

Badeni, 434 

Bagdad Railway, 311, 642, 702-705 

Bakewell, 54 

Bakunin, 519, 586, 597, 598 

Balaklava, battle of, 630 

Balfour, Arthur James, 336, 337-338, 394 

Balkans, races in, 621-624; religions in, 624- 
626; rivalries in the, 705-708. {See 
Turkey, the other Balkan states) 

Balkan Wars (1912-13), 646-649 

Baltic provinces, 527-528, 530, 555, 566, 748 

Baluchistan, 401, 673 

Balzac, 113-114 

Bashi-Bazouks, 632 

Bausin, 158 

Bazaine, General, 185, 191, 192, 193 

Beaconsfield, Earl of, see Disraeli 

Beatty, Admiral, 738 

Bebel, 588, 589, 592 

Behring, Doctor, 617 



792 



INDEX 



Beiliss case, 536 

Belfort, 239 

Belgium, 17, 18; independence of, 484-486; 
489-494; neutrality of, 181, 187, 191, 485- 
486; violation of neutrality of, 714-717, 
727 

Bell, A. G., 33 

Benedetti, 188 

Benedict XV, Pope, 748 

Benst, 426 

Bentham, 43, 63 

Berchtold, 71 

Berlin, congress of, 334, 437, 634-635, 645, 
684 

Bernadotte, see Charles XIV, of Sweden 

Bernstein, Edward, 590 

Bernstorfl", 742 

Bert, 229, 240 

Berzilius, 614 

Bessarabia, 18, 635, 754 

Bessemer process, 32 

Bethmann-Hollweg, 318-319, 714, 716, 752 

Biarritz, interview of, 162-163 

Bieberstein, 642 

Billot, General, 250, 252 

Biology, 8, 612-63 . 

Bismarck, 162", 172-179, 288-297, 309, 634, 
635, 684, 685, 687-688. (See also Prussia 
and Germany) 

Bjornson, 475, 481 

Black Hundreds, 549, 563 

Blanc, Louis, 100, 103, 104, 266 

Blanqui, 225 

Bloc (in France), 235, 256, 258, 264 

Bloch, 697 

Block, Blue-Black, 319, 320 

Bobrikov, 547 

Boer War, 338, 416-417, 421, 689 

Boers, see Transvaal 

Bogrov, 564 

Bohemia, 133, 134, 182, 427, 432-433. 434, 
435. 436 

Boisdeffre, general, 250 

Bolo Pasha, 753 

Bolsheviki, 744, 745-747 

"Bomba," King, see Ferdinand of the Two 
Sicilies 

Bonaparte, sec Napoleon I; Napoleon III 

Bonar Law, Andrew, 338, 751 

Bordeaux Assembly, 193 

Borden, Sir Robert, 410 

Borneo, 407 

Borny, battle of, 192 

Bosnia-Herzegovina, 437, 632, 634, 640, 645, 
706 

Botany Bay, 411 

Botha, General, 417, 737 

Boulanger, General, 242-243 

Bourbon, House of, French, 94-96, 220, 229- 
230; Italian, 199; Spanish, 459, 460 

Bourgeoisie, 6, 16, 28, 37, 579-582, 587-588, 
602, 682-683; Belgian, 491; British, 52, 
57, 61-62, 78, 85, 328, 331, 356; French, 
90-91, 93, 98-99, 114, 149, 228, 231, 
238, 246, 264; German, 138, 283, 284-285, 
295, 306-307, 319-320; Italian, 208, 444, 
445,452; Russian, 544, 567, 745, 746. (See 
Capitalism, Capitalists; Industrial De- 
velopment, Industrial Revolution) 

Boxers, 662 



Boyne, battle of the, 384, 387 

Bradlaugh, 340 

Braga, 470 

Braganza, House of, 470 

Brandes, 482-483 

Brazil, 468 

Breshkovsky, Katherine, 563 

Brest-Litovsk, treaty of, 746-748 

Briand, 256, 261, 262, 263, 270, 753 

Bright, John, 65, 66, 70, 74-331,334. 336, 394 

British Empire, see Table of Contents, ch. 

xv ; and the World War, 750 
British North America Act, 410 
Broglie, Duke de, 231, 233 
Brougham, Lord, 64 
Brousse, 591 
Browning, 372-373 
Brusilov, General, 733 
Bucharest, treaty of, 648 
Buddhists, 403 

Budget, the Lloyd George, 358-360 
Buffon, 612 
Buisson, 240 
Bulgaria, 333, 623, 632, 633, 634, 635-637, 

646, 647, 648-649, 717 
Bulow, Bernhard von, 311, 314, 318 
Bund dcr Landwirte, 310 
Bureaucracy, French, 236; German, 283; 

Russian, 541 
Burmah, 401 
Burns, John, 346, 357 
Burschcnschajtcn, 21, 124-125 
Butler, Samuel, 376-377 
Byng, General, 754 
Byron, Lord, 83, 202, 628 

Cable, Atlantic, 33 

Caillaux, 753 

Cambodia, 240 

Camorra, 444, 445 

Campbell-Bannerman, 351, 357, 362 

Campos, Marshal, 464 

Canada, 407-410, 422 

Canalejas, 466 

Canovas, 464, 465 

Cape Colony, see South Africa 

Cape of Good Hope, see South Africa 

Capital, export of, 653-655 

Capitalism, 571-572; 579-582. (See Bour- 
geoisie) 

Capitalists, see Bourgeoisie 

Capitulations, 644 

Carbonari, Italian, 21, 105, 199-201; Span- 
ish, 460; Portuguese, 469 

Carducci, 456-457 

Carlists, 462, 463, 464 

Carlos, King of Portugal, 469-470 

Carlsbad decrees, 126, 129 

Carlyle, Thomas, 86-87 

Carmen Sylva (pseudonym of Elizabeth), of 
Rumania, 637 

Carnegie, 697 

Carnot, Sadi, 241, 243 

Carson, Sir Edward, 395, 398 

Cartwright, 30 

Casement, Sir Roger, 751 

Casimir-Perier, 243 

Castelar, 463-464 

Castozza, battle of, 206 

Catholic Church and ancien regime, 3-4; 



INDEX 



793 



French Revolution and the, 10; liberalism 
in the, 153-154. i.SS, 457; Napoleon 
and the, 13; and socialism, 585-586; ultra- 
montanism in the, 153-154, 155; the 
Vatican Council and, 290; Voltaire and, 7; 
in Austria, 430, 432, 434; in Belgium, 485, 
490-491; in France, 90, 153-156, 231-232, 
238, 251, 257-260; in Great Britain, 49, 
60, 78-79,80-81, 340, 387-388; in Ger- 
many, 284, 285, 290-291; in Ireland, 384- 
385. 387-388; in Italy, 195-196, 199. 219, 
443-444, 446-448, 453; hi Japan, 665; 
in the near East, 644; in the Netherlands, 
487; in Portugal, 469, 470-471; in Russia, 
506, 515; in Spain, 460, 462, 463, 465-466; 
in Switzerland, 495 

Cattle breeding, improvement in, 54 

Caucasus, 530, 555, 562, 566, 748 

Cavaignac, 104, 105, 253 

Cavendish, Lord, 392 

Cavour, 207-215 

CensorshiD, in Austria, 123; in Great Britain, 
51; in France, 100-101, 146-147; in Ger- 
many, 126; in Italy, 19S; in Prussia, 169, 
178; in Russia, 505, 527, 547-548 

Ceylon, 18, 407 

Chamberlain, Joseph, 336, 337, 370, 415, 421, 
692 

Chambord, Comte de, 220, 229, 230 

Charles Albert, of Sardinia, 205, 206 

Charles Felix, of Sardinia, 201 

Charles X, of France, 95-97 

Charles I, of Rumania, 632, 637 

Charles XIII, of Sweden, 474 

Charles XIV, of Sweden, 18, 474, 475 

Charles XV, of Sweden, 475 

Chartism, 71-72, 344 

Chateaubriand, 23 

Chemistry, 8, 614-615 

Chevalier, 574 

Children, employment of, 39, 49-5°; see also 
Social legislation; Factory legislation 

China, civilization of, 657; government of, 
657-658; Europeans and, 658-660; and 
Japan, 660-661, 668, 671; dismemberment 
of, 661; railways in, 661-662; Boxers and, 
662; awakening of, 662-663; revolution in, 
663-664; and Russia, 6S2 

Chino-Japanese War, 660-661, 668 

Chiozza-Money, 356 

Chosen, see Korea 

Christian IX, of Denmark, 473 

Christianity and peace, 697 

Christians, oppression of, by Turks, 624-625, 
644 

Christina, Regent of Spain, 462-463 

Church of England, see Anglican Church 

Church, Episcopal, see Anglican Church 

Church of Rome, see Catholic Church 

Church, States of the, 19 

Churches, national, 3-4; see Anglican 
Church; Catholic Church 

Churchill, Lord Randolph, 336 

Churchill, Winston, 357 

Cities, growth of, in Great Britain, 34~35; 
in Germany, 299 

Civil constitution of the clergy, 10. 

Classical School (in lhtrature), no, 455-45 6 

Clemenceau, 229, 256, 263, 270, 271, 753 

Clericalism, see Catholic Church 



Clerk-Maxwell, 6r6 

Clermont (steamboat), 32 

Clive, 400 

Cobbett, 58, 66 

Cobden, 70, 77, 331 

Cochin-China, 240 

Coleridge, 83 

Colonies, see Imperialism 

Combes, 256, 259, 271 

Combination Laws, British, 343, 344, 345; 
French, 266, 267 

Commune, the, 222-226, 591 

Communication, revolution in, 33-34, 651 

Communist Manifesto, 578, 579-582 

Compact of Bordeaux, 221 

Compromise of 1867, 426, 438 

Comte, 574 

Concert of Europe, 693-695 

Concordat, 258, 261 

Confederation, German, 18-19, 183 

Confederation, North German, 184 

Confederation, South German, 184, 187 

Congo Free State, 494, ( 77-678 

Congregations, sec Orders, religious 

Connolly, James, 751 

Conscription, sec Militarism 

Conservation of energy, 616 

Constant, Baron de, 698 

Constantine, of Greece, 717, 734, 735 

Constantinople, treaty of, 648 

Consulate, the, 13 

Continental System, 14 

Convention, the, 11-12 

Cook, Captain, 411 

Corn Laws, 68-71 

Cossacks, 553, 554, 565 

Council of Workingmen's Delegates, 553, 
567. 

Council of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Dele- 
gates, 743 

Coup d'etat (1799), 13; (1851), 107-108 

Courland, 530 

Crete, 639, 645, 647 

Creuzot, Le, 244 

Crimea, 529 

Crimean War, 73, 187, 211, 507, 629-631 

Criminal Code, British, 51 

Crispi, 451-452, 454 

Croats, 134, 427, 428, 437, 438 

Cromer, Lord, 406 

Crompton, 29 

Crown colonies, 407 

Cuba, 464, 465 

Curie, 610, 615 

Curzon, Lord, 751 

Cuza, 632 

Cyprus, 407, 634 

Cyrenaica, 455, 645, 680 
Czechs, see Bohemia 
Czernin, 746 

Dahlman, 136, 171 
Daimios, 665, 666 
Dalai Lama, 658 
Dalhousie, Lord, 401 
Dalton, 614 

Danish War of 1864, 473 
Dante, influence of, 202, 455 
Dan ton, 12. 
Darwin, 612-613 



794 



INDEX 



Daudet, 274 

Davitt, 390, 393 

Davy, 615 

Deak, 131, 425, 426 

Decembrist Conspiracy, 504 

Declaration of the Rights of Man, 10. 

Delbriick, 287 

Delcasse, 691, 700 

Democracy, the French Revolution and, 15- 
16; the Industrial Revolution and, 41; 
literature and, 16, 86; in the nineteenth 
century, 719-720; in Austria, 435; in Bel- 
gium, 493; in China, 663-664; in Den- 
mark, 473; in France, 8-13, 89-91, 97-99, 
105, 112-113, us, iS9-i6o, 227-233, 
255-256; in Germany, 117-118, 123-125, 
135-137. 169-170, 175, 318-321, 720, 748; 
in Great Britain, 61-62, 73, 75-76, 86-87, 
115. 334-335, 355, 363-364, 75i; in 
Greece, 638; in Hungary, 132-133; in Italy, 
199, 202-204, 209; in japan, 667; in the 
Netherlands, 487; in Norway, 475, 477; 
in Persia, 673-674; in Portugal, 469-470; 
in Russia, 516-520, ch. xxm, 720, 742- 
748; in Spain, 460-461, 463-464; in 
Sweden, 475, 476; in Switzerland, 496; in 
Turkey, 642-645 

■Denmark, 18, 180, 472-474, 609 

Departments, 9, 234, 242 

Depretis, 451 

Derby, Earl of, 67, 71, 72-73, 75 

Dernburg, 313 

Dervishes, 406 

De Wet, General, 417 

Diamond Jubilee, 420 • 

Dickens, 87 

F»iderot, 8 

Directory, 12-13 

Disraeli, Benjamin (Earl of Beaconsfield), 
7i, 72, 75, 330-331, 333, 334, 404, 4*9, 
634. 635 

Dissenters, British, 49, 78, 340-341, 342; 
Russian, 506, 537, 541 

Divine Right, 2-3, 22, 24, 95, 121, 229, 308- 
309, 505, 524 

Dobrudja, 635, 754 

Dollinger, 291 

Domestic system, 26-28 

Dostoievsky, 521-522 

Doupanloup, Bishop, 154 

Dowager Empress, of China, 66o, 662, 663 

Draga, Queen, 640 

Drang nock Oslen, 437, 685 

Dreikaiserbund, 684, 685 

Dreyfus Affair, 248-256, 274, 276, 592 

Dreyfus, Alfred, see Dreyfus Affair 

Droysen, 136, 171 

Drumont, 249 

Dual Alliance, 239, 686-687 

Dual Control, 405 

Dual Monarchy, see Austria-Hungary 

Dualism, 439 

Dufaure, 233 

Duffy, Charles Gavan, 392 

Dukhobors, 537 

Duma, Russian, 559-564 

Dumas, Alexandre, 112 

Dumas fds, Alexandre, 168 

Dupm, Aurore, see Sand, George 

Dupleix, 400 



Durazzo, 647 
Durham, Lord, 408-409 
Duruy, 156 

East India Company, British, 400, 402; 
French, 400 

Education, 4; in Belgium, 490-491 ; in France, 
240-241, 259-260; in Great Britain, 50-51, 
64, 332-333, 338, 341-342; in Italy, 445; 
in the Netherlands, 487; in Portugal, 471; 
in Russia, 514, 527, 533-534; in Spain, 
467 

Edward VII, of Great Britain, 691 

Egypt, 102, 333, 404-407, 680 

Eisenachers, 588 

Elba, 15 

Elder Statesmen, 667 

Elgin, Lord, 410 

Eliot, George, 88 

Emancipation Act, Russian, 528, 538 

Emigration, Italian, 446; German, 307; Jew- 
ish, 535 

Emigres, 10, 11, 96 

Ems dispatch, 189-190 

Enclosure, acts of, 55 

Engels, 578 

England, see Great Britain 

Entente cordiale, 312, 680, 691, 701 

Episcopal Church, see Anglican Church 

Erfurt Program, 588-589 

Eritrea, 454 

Espertero, 463 

Estates General, 9 

Esterhazy, Major, 250, 252, 253, 254 

Esthonia, 520 

Eugenie, Empress, 148, 189 

Evans, Mary Ann, see Eliot, George 

Evolution, theory of, 612-613 

Expansion, see Imperialism 

Expedition of the Thousand, 216-217 

Exploration, 619-620; see Africa 

Exposition, Crystal Palace, 78; Paris, 153, 
239 

Fabian Society, 593 

Factory legislation, English, 65-66, 364; 

French, 264-265 
Factory system, 36-37, 39, 49-50 
Falloux Law, 155, 221, 240 
Faraday, 616 

Far East, sec China; Japan 
Fashoda Affair, 680, 691 
Faure, 243, 252, 254 
February Patent, 425, 426 
Feminism, see Woman 
Fenianism, 392 

Ferdinand, of Austria, 132, 133, 134 
Ferdinand, of Bulgaria, 636, 637, 645, 717 
Ferdinand, of the Two Sicilies, 198, 200, 206 
Ferdinand VII, of Spain, 459-460, 461, 462 
Ferrer, 466 
Ferxi, 594 
Ferry, 229, 240-241 
Ferry Laws, 241 
Feudalism, 5, 9, 16, 24, 120 
Fichte, 126 
Field, C. W., 33 
Finland, 18, 503, 527, 53^, 540-547, 554-555* 

560, 563, 610, 743, 748 
Fiske, 613 



INDEX 



795 



Flanders, battle of, 755 

Flaubert, 167 

Flemings, 489-490 

FIcur-dr.-lys, 229, 230 

Foch, General, 727, 755 

Fogazzarro, 457 

Formosa, 661 

Fourier, 575 

France, Anatole, 275-276 

France, and the French Revolution, 8-13; 
and the First Empire, 14-15; the Con- 
gress of Vienna and, 119-20; (1815- 1850), 
89-114; (1850-1870), 145-168; (1870- 
1914), 220-276; see Table of Contents, 
chs. vi, viii, and xi; and Africa, 680- 
681 ; and China, 660, 661 ; and Egypt, 405; 
and the Near East, 628, 630, 643, 644; 
international relations of, since 1S70, see 
ch. xxix ; and the Woman's Movement, 
610; and the World War, 714, 752-753 

Francis Ferdinand, archduke, 710 

Francis Joseph, of Austria, 134, 426, 439 

Francis II, of the Two Sicilies, 216, 217 

Franco, 469, 470 

Franco-Prussian War, 184-194 

Frankfort Assembly, 135-137 

Frankfort Diet, 19, 121, 126, 176, 184 

Frankfort, treaty of, 193, 221 

Frederick, of Augustenburg, 180 

Frederick VII, of Denmark, 472 

Frederick VIII, of Denmark, 476 

Frederick III, of Germany, 308 

Frederick William III, of Prussia, 120, 126, 
128 

Frederick William IV, of Prussia, 128, 129, 
136-137, 172 

Free trade, 70-71, 152, 328, 371, 422, 488 

French, Sir John, 725 

French Empire, first, 14-15; second, 145-165 

French Republic, first, 11-13; second, 103- 
110; third, see ch. xi. 

French Revolution, 8-13; heritage of, 15-16; 
influence of, 89; and Italy, 197; and uto- 
pianism, 573-574; and the Woman's Move- 
ment, 605; and nationalism, 16, 719; and 
democracy, 720 

Frere-Orban, 490 

Freycinet, 229 

Freid, 698 

Fulton, 32 

Galicia, 428 

Gambetta, 158-159, 192, 193, 227-233 

Gapon, Father, 553-554 

Garibaldi, 205, 214, 215-218, 219 

Gas, use of, in war, 724 

Gastein, treaty of, 180, 181-182 

Gautier, 112 

Gay-Lussac, 614 

General Strike, syndicalism and the, 601; in 
Belgium, 491, 493; in France, 269-270; in 
Great Britain, 348-349; in Italy, 454; in 
Ireland, 349; in Portugal, 471; in Russia, 
555-557; in Sweden, 477 

Geneva Convention, 694 

Geology, 611-612 

George IV, of Great Britain, 59 

George V, of Great Britain, 340, 363, 397 

George I, of Greece, 638 

Georgians, 530, 555 



Gerard, 742 

Germ theory, 617 

German Confederation, 19, 120-123 

Germans, Austrian, 427, 430, 431-432, 433- 
434- 435 : in Russia, 530, 541 

Germany, the Congress of Vienna and, 18- 
19; (1815-1850), 115-144; (1850-1870), 
169-194; (1870-1914), 277-323 (see Table 
of Contents, chs. < 11, i\, and xn); and 
Africa, 679; and China, 661; and the Near 
East, 635, 642, 702, 705-708; international 
relations of, since 1870, sec ch. xxix; and 
the Woman's Movement, 610; and demo- 
cracy, 720; and the World War, 712-716, 
751-752 

Gervinus, 136 

Gioberti, 204 

Giolitti, 453 

Gladstone, 73, 74, 75, 206, 328-330, 333, 334, 
335. 336, 390, 394-395. 406, 407, 632 

Goethe, 8 

Goltz, General von der, 642 

Goodnow, Professor, 663 

Gordon, General ("Chinese"), 335, 406, 660 

Goremykin, 560, 569 

Gortchakov, 634 

Gotha Program, 588 

Gramont, Duke de, 188, 189 

Grattan, 385 

Gravellote, battle of, 192 

Great Britain, Napoleon I and, 14; the Con- 
gress of Vienna and, 18; and the Industrial 
Revolution, 25-44; Old England, 45-56; 
(1815-1867), 57-88; (1867-1914), 324- 
381; see Table of Contents, chs. ill, IV, v, 
and xiii ; and Africa, 678; and China, 659, 
661; international relations of, since 1870, 
see ch. xxix; and Japan, 670-671; and the 
Near East, 626-627, 641-642, 644, 645 ; and 
Persia, 674; and the Woman's Movement, 
607-609; and the World War, 714-717, 
750-751. Consult also British Empire; 
Ireland 

Great Russians, 529 

Great Trek, 413 

Great Western (steamboat), 32 

Greco-Turkish War (1897), 639 

Greece, 623, 627-629, 638-639, 646, 648, 717 

Greek Church, 624 

Greeks, see Greece 

Greely, 620 

Gregoire, Abbe\ 95 

Grevy, 233, 241 

Grey, Earl, 60 

Grey, Sir Edward, 357, 647, 692, 713, 714, 

715 
Grimm, 128, 136, 142 
Guesde, 591-592, 596, 752 
Guilds, 5-6 
Guizot, 101-103 
Gustavus IV, of Sweden, 474 
Gustavus V, of Sweden, 476, 477 

Haakon VII, of Norway, 476 

Haeckel, 613 

Hague Peace Conferences, 698-699 

Haig, General, 734 

Hamilton, Sir Ian, 730 

Hanotaux, 690 

Hanover, 182, 184 



796 



INDEX 



Uansabund, 319 

Hapsburg, House of, see Austria; Austria- 
Hungary; Hungary; also 199 

Harcourt, Sir William, 337 

Hardenberg, 17, 120 

Hardie, Keir, 348, 593, 594 

Hardy, Thomas, 376 

Hargreaves, 29 

Harris, Townsend, 665 

Hausser, 171 

Haussmann, Baron, 150 

Hedervary, 439 

Hedin, Sven, 619 

Hedjaz, 704 

Hegel, 139-140, 577 

Heine, 116, 142-144 

Helgoland, 18, 313 

Hellenes, see Greece 

Helmholtz, 616 

Henderson, Arthur, 751 

Henry, Colonel, 250, 253 

Hermannstadt, battle of, 735 

Hertling, Count von, 750, 752 

Hertz, 616 

Herze, 536 

Herzegovina, see Bosnia-Herzegovina 

Herzen, 517, 539, 541 

Hesse, 182 

Hesse-Cassel, 184 

Hetairia Philike, 628 

Hill, Rowland, 64 

Hindenburg, General von, 728, 734, 735 

Historians, German, 139-142, 170-172 

Hohenzollern, House of, see Prussia, Ger- 
many 

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Prince of, 463 

Holland, see Netherlands 

Holy Alliance, 21, 22-24, 462, 501 

Holy Roman Empire, 14, 18, 424 

Holy Synod, 525, 536 

Home Rule, Irish, 392-398 

House of Lords Question, 324, 326, 360-364 

Hudson Bay Company, 410 

Hughes, Thomas, 81 

Hugo, Victor, in, 165 

Humbert I, of Italy, 451, 452 

Humboldt, 17, 619 

Hungary (1815-1867), 131-135, 425-427; 
(1867-1914), 437-441 

Huskisson, 69 

Huxley, 613 

Hyndman, 593 

Ibsen, 478-481 

Ignatiev, Count, 526, 533 

Illyria, 18, 428 

Imperial conferences, British, 421-422 

Imperial federation, British, 418-423 

Imperial preference, 422 

Imperialism, influence of, in English litera- 
ture, 377; causes for the new, 650-657; re- 
sults of, 682-683; and national rivalries, 
720-721; Austrian, 436-437, 634; Belgian, 
494; British, 331, 333, 337, 418-423, 674, 
678 (see also ch. xv); Danish, 474; Dutch, 
488-489; French, 105-106, 239-240, 680- 
681; Germany 31 1-313, 321, 679, 702-704; 
Italian, 454-455, 679-680; Japanese, 667- 
668, 671; Portuguese, 471, 680; Russian, 
671-674; Spanish, 465, 680 (see ch. xxvm) 



India, 74, 400-404, 642, 673, 692 

Individualism, see Laissez faire 

Indo-China, 660 

Industrial Development, Austrian, 436; Bel- 
gian, 493; British, 76-78, 367-371; Dutch, 
488; French, 151-153, 244-247; General, 
650-652; German, 297-306; Italian, 448- 
449; Japanese, 667; Russian, ' 542-544; 
Swedish, 476-477; Swiss, 497-498. (See 
also Industrial Revolution) 

Industrial Revolution, see Table of Contents, 
ch. in; and democracy, 41; and inter- 
nationalism, 42; and the laboring classes, 
38-40, 571; and nationalism, 41, 719; and 
woman, 606-607; the new, 650-652, 653; 
in France, 91-93; in Germany, 297-307; 
in Great Britain, sec ch. 111; in Japan, 667 

Industrial unionism, 268-270, 349-350, 600- 
601 

Initiative and Referendum, 496 

Inkerman, battle of, 630 

Inquisition, 198 

Intellectual progress, 7-8, 44 

Intellectuals, French, 91, 147-148, 251; Ger- 
man, 139-142; Russian, 517, 539-540, 547- 
548 

Intelligentsia, see. Intellectuals, Russian 

International, the, 586-597, 684 

International relations, see ch. xxix 

Internationalism, 42, 497, 581-582, 695, 710; 
see also socialism; anarchism; syndicalism 

Intervention, right of, 21 

Inventions, mechanical, 28-34, 650-651 

Ireland, early history of, 382-384; anti-Irish 
legislation, 384-385; parties in, 386; races 
in, 386-387; Catholic emancipation, 79, 
387-388; agrarian question in, 70-71, 388- 
391; Home Rule for, 392-398; and the 
World War, 750-751 

Isabella II, of Spain, 188, 462, 463 

Islam, see Mohammedanism 

Ismail I, of Egypt, 404 

Istria, 428, 429 

Italia irredenta, 428-429, 436, 455, 686, 731 

Italians, Austrian, 428 

Italo-Turkish War, 595, 645, 679-680 

Italy, the Congress of Vienna and, 19; (1815- 
1870), 195-219; (1870-1914), 442-458 
(see Table of Contents, chs. x and xvn); 
and Africa, 679; international relations of, 
since 1870, 685, 686, 692; and Italy, 197; 
and the World War, 730-731 

Jacobi, Doctor, 130 

Jacobins, 12 

Jagow, 713 

Jahn, 126, 128 

Jains, the, 403 

Jamaica, 407 

Jameson Raid, 308, 416 

Japan, characteristics of, 664; coming of the 
Europeans to, 665 ; transformation of, 665- 
667; and modern industry, 667; ambitions 
of, 667-668 ; war of, with Russia, 550, 668- 
670; and China, 660-661, 671; and Great 
Britain, 670-671; and Russia, 671; and the 
United States, 671; and the World War, 
717 

Jaures, 251, 264, 591, 592, 595, 596, 753 

Java, 489 



INDEX 



797 



Jccker, 156 

Jelladiich, 134 

Jellicoe, Admiral, 738 

Jesuits, see Orders, religious 

Jewish Emancipation, see Jews, in Great 
Britain 

Jews, in Austria, 427, 428, 434, 435-436; in 
Great Britain, 49, 79; in France, 249, 
261; in Hungary, 438; in Rumania, 637; 
in Russia, 506, 527, 529, 530, 531-536, 549- 
550, 555. 563, 744; in Spain, 466; in Tur- 
key, 624, 644 

Joflre, General, 726, 733 

John VI, of Portugal, 468 

Joule, 616 

Jugo-Slavs, see Slavs, Southern 

July Ordinances, 96, 97 

July Revolution, 97 

"June Days," 104-105, 109, 266 

Junkers, 284, 287, 306-307, 721 

Jutland, battle of, 738-739 

KaTa George, 629 

Karamzin, 525 

Katkov, 524, 525 

Kay, 29 

Keats, 83 

Keble, 80 

Kelvin, Lord, 616 

Kerensky, 743, 745-746 

Ketteler, Bishop, 585 

Khartum, battle of, 335, 405, 406 

Khuen-Hedervary, 440 

Kiamil Pasha, 645 

Kiao-chau, 661, 717, 736 

Kiel Canal, 180, 313 

Kiel, treaty of, 472, 474 

Kingsley, 81, 585 

Kipling, 378-379. 420, 692 

Kirk-Kilisseh, battle of, 646 

Kishinev, massacre of, 549-550 

Kitchener, General, 406, 417 

Kluck, General von, 726 

Koch, Doctor, 617 

Kokovtsov, 564 

Koniggratz, see Sadowa, battle of 

Korea, 660, 669, 670, 672 

Kornilov, General, 745 

Kossuth, Francis, 439, 440 

Kossuth, Louis, 131-132, 134, 135, 426 

Kotzebue, 125, 503 

Koweit, 704 

Kriidener, Madame de, 23, 501 

Kruger, Paul, 308, 415, 689 

Krupp, 300 

Kuhlmann, 746 

Kultur, dcutschc, 321-323 

Kidturkampf, 289-292 

Kurds, 641 

Kuroki, General, 669 

Kuropatkin, General, 668, 669 

Labor Party, English, 347-348, 593-594. 

597- 
Labriola, 594 
Lacordaire, 154 
Lafayette, 97 
Laharpe, 501 

Laibach, congress of, 21, 200, 504 
Laisscs /aire, 42, 65, 294, 356-357, 585. 593 



Lamarck, 8, 612 
Lamartinc, 103, 113 
Lamb, Charles, 85 
Lamenais, Abbe, 154-155, 585 
Land Acts, Irish, 390-391, 395 
Land League, Irish, 390 
Landlordism, Irish, 389-390 
Land Question, see Agriculture 
Lanenberg, duchy of, 180 
Language struggles, in Austria, 429, 433, 
434; in Belgium, 490; in Bohemia, 434-435; 
in Germany, 314, 315, 316-317; in Hun- 
gary, 438, 439; in Russia, 506, 514, 527- 
528 
Lansdowne, Lord, 704 
Lansing, 742 
Larkin, James, 349 
Lassalle. Ferdinand, 587-588 
Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 410 
Lavoisier, 8, 614 
Lazare, 251 
Lazzaroni, /\]/\ 
Ledou-Rollin, 105 
Left Center Party, 227 
Legislative Assembly, 10, 11 
Legitimacy, principle of, 17-18 
Legitimists, 220, 227 
Leipzig, battle of, 15 
Lenine, 746 

Leo XIII, pope, 258, 260, 292, 585 
Leopardi, 456 
Leopold I, of Belgium, 485 
Leopold II, of Belgium, 490, 494, 677 
Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 241, 574 
Lessing, 8, 118 
Li Hung Chang, 660 
Li Yuan-hung, 664 
Liao-tung, 661, 668, 670, 672 
Liberal Catholics, see Catholic Church 
Liberal Empire, 156-160 
Liberalism, 20-21; Austrian, 431-432, Bel- 
gium, 490, 491, 493; British, 67, 328, 354, 
362; Dutch, 487; French, 109, 156, 157, 
238; German, 169-170, 178, 284-285, 290, 
320; Italian, 198, 209, 443, 451; Portu- 
guese, 468; Russian, 504, 537, 551 ; Spanish, 
459, 460, 461, 462, 464; Swedish, 477; 
Swiss, 495; Turkish, 644. (See also 
Democracy) 
Libya, 455, 680 
Liebig, 614-615 
Liebknecht, Karl, 596, 752 
Liebknecht, Wilhelm, 588 
List, Frederick, 127 
Lister, Lord, 618 

Literature, English, 81-88, 372-381 ; French, 
110-114,165-168,272-276; German, 142- 
144; Italian, 455-458; Russian, 520-523; 
Scandinavian, 478-483 
Lithuania, 506, 529, 530, 748 
Little Russians, see Ukrainians 
Livingstone, 677 
Livonia, 530 
Lloyd George, David, 352, 357-358, 359" 

360, 749, 751 
Lombardy, 214 

Lombardy-Venetia, 18, 133, 134, 199 
London Convention, 414 
London, treaty of, 647 
Lords, House of, 326, 360-364 



798 



INDEX 



Loris-Mclikov, 508, 520; 526 

Loubct, 254, 260, 691 

Louis XVI, of France, 10, 11, 12 

Louis XVIII, of France, 94-95 

Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, sec Napoleon 

III 
Louis Philippe, 97-103, 106, 239 
Lowe, 332 

Lower Canada, see Quebec 
Lueger, Karl, 436 
Lule Burgas, battle of, 646 
Lusitania, sinking of the, 740-741 
Luxemburg, grand duchy of, 494, 715 
Luzzatti, 446 
Lvov, Prince, 743 
Lyell, 612 

Macaulay, Lord, 86 

Macaulay, Zachary, 62 

McDonald, J. Ramsay, 347, 594 

Mardonald, Sir John, 410 

Macedonia, 633, 634, 641, 645, 646, 648 

Machinery, nature of, 28; influence of, 34; 
labor saving of, 40. {See also Inven- 
tions) 

Mackensen, General, 729, 730, 733 

MacMahon, Marshal, 185, 191, 192, 227, 230, 
231, 232-233, 234 

Madagascar, 240 

Mafia, 444 

Magenta, battle of, 213 

Magyars, see Hungary 

Mahdi, 405 

Mahratta Confederacy, 401 

Maistre, Joseph de, 23 

Majuba Hill, battle of, 335, 414 

Malta, 18, 407 

Malthus, 43, 65 

Manchester School, 7-8, 43, 332, 418-419. 
(See also Laissez faire) 

Manchuria, 668, 670/672 

Manchus, 658, 660, 663 

Mandarins, 658 

Manin, 205, 214 

Manor, see Feudalism 

Manual II, of Portugal, 470 

Manzoni, 456 

Marchand, Captain, 680 

Marches, the, 217 

Marconi, 651 

Maria of Portugal, 468 

Marie Antoinette of France, 12 

Marne, battle of the, 726-727 

Mars-la-Tour, battle of, 192 

Marx, Karl, 577-578, 586, 598, 599, 602 

Marxism, see Socialism, Marxian 

Massacre of the Boulevards, 108 

Maude, General, 736 

Maupassant, 273 

Maurice, F. D., 81 

Maximilian, of Mexico, 157 

May Laws (anti-Catholic), , see Kultur- 
kampf 

May Laws (anti- Jewish). See Jews, in Russia 

Mayer, 616 

Mazzini, 202-204, 205, 210, 214 

Meagher, 392 

Medicine, progress of, 617-618 

Mehemet Ali, 102, 404 

Melbourne, Lord, 67-68 



Meline, 252 

Mcndeleef, 615 

Mendizrabel, 463 

Menelek, 454, 679 

Mensheviki, 744 

Mentana, battle of, 219 

Mercantilism, 418, 654 

Merchant marine, see Shipping 

Merchants, see Bourgeoisie 

Merrier, General, 252 

Meredith, 375 

Merry del Val, Cardinal, 260 

Mesopotamia, 642, 702 

Mctschnikoff, 617 

Metternich, Prince, 17, 20-22, 132 

Metternich system, 123, 131, 142 

Mexican Expedition, 156-157 

Michaelis, George, 752 

Michelet, 148 

Middle Class, see Bourgeoisie 

Miguel, dom, 468 

Milan, of Serbia, 639 

Militarism, origin of conscription, 172-174; 
general adoption of conscription, 695-696; 
increase of armament, 708; comparison of 
armies and navies, 722-723; Austrian, 436; 
Belgian, 494; British, 358, 399-400, 423, 
689-690; Dutch, 488; French, 160-162, 
164, 222, 251, 271-272; German, 285-287, 
312-313, 320, 689-690,721-722; Swedish, 
477; Swiss, 496-497 

Miliukov, 547, 557, 743, 745 

Miliutin, 508, 525 

Mill, James, 43 

Mill, John Stuart, 43, 332, 607 

Millerand, 256, 264, 591, 592 

Milner, Lord, 416, 751 

Minghetti, 450 

Mir, 512-513, 526, 560, 567-568 

Mirabeau, 9 

Missions, Christian, 655-656, 676, 682 

Mitchel, 392 

Modena, 19, 199, 201, 215 

Mohammed Ahmed, see Mahdi 

Mohammed V, of Turkey, 643 

Mohammedanism, 402, 529, 624-625, 644, 

675 
Moldavia, 630, 631, 632 
Molokanye, 537 
Moltke, General von, 173, 182, 185, 187-188, 

189, 190, 191, 272, 286 
Mommsen, 141-142 
Monroe Doctrine, 462 
Montalembert, 154 
Montenegro, 633, 634, 640, 646/717 
Montesquieu, 7 

Monnmenta Germanitz Hislorica, 140 
Morley, 357 

Morny, Duke de, 149, 157 
Morocco, 311, 321, 466, 646, 681, 692, 700- 

702 
Morris, William, 593 
Morse, S. F. B., 33 
Mukden, battle of, 551, 669 
Mun, Count de, 257, 262 
Municipal government, German, 323 
Municipal reform, English, 62 
Muromtzev, 559 
Musset, Alfred de, 112 
Mutiny, Indian, 401-402 



INDEX 



799 



Nansen, 620 

Nanshan, battle of, 669 

Naples, see Two Sicilies, kingdom of 
the 

Napoleon I, 12-15; and Italy, 197 

Napoleon III, 105-106, 11 1, 145-149, 169, 
181, 184, 185, 189, 197, 207, 211, 212, 219, 
246; see also France, 145-165 

Napoleonic Code, 113, 610 

Napoleonic legend, 90, 106 

Nassau, 184 

Natal, 413 

National Assembly, 9, II 

National Guard, 223 

Nationalism, Napoleon I and, 15; the Con- 
gress of Vienna and, 17-18; the French 
Revolution and, 16, 719; the Industrial 
Revolution and, 41, 719; Mazzini and, 
203-204; socialism and, 584, 596-597; 
modern, 718-719; Alsatian, 316-317; Aus- 
trian, 433-435; in Austria, 428-431, 435; 
Belgian, 485-486; Boer, 413-415; Bo- 
hemian, 133-134. 427, 432-435; Bulgarian, 
636; Chinese, 662-664; Danish, 473, 314; 
Dutch, 488; Egyptian, 405-507; English, 
73-74, US; Finnish, 554; French, 102, 115, 
160-161, 162; German, 115-117, 123-125, 
128, 135-137, 169, 171-172, 175-176, 186, 
289, 321, 473; Greek, 623, 627-628, 638- 
639; Hungarian, 132-133, 425-427, 438, 
439^-441; Indian, 402-404; Irish, 386, 391, 
392-397, 751 ; Italian, 195-196, 199, 202- 
204, 219, 428-429, 455, 686, 731 ; Japanese, 
666-667; Jewish, 536; Norwegian, 475- 
476, 481; Persian, 673-674; Polish, 314- 
316, 428, 506, 514-515, 554; Rumanian, 
623, 637; Russian, 505, 526, 566; in Russia, 
554-555* 566; Serbian, 623, 629; Slavic, 
South Slavic, and Jugo-Slavic, 134-135, 
428, 433, 649, 707, 711; Swiss, 494-495; 
Turkish, 642-645 

National Workshops, 99-100, 104 

Naturalistic School (in literature), 273 

Navarino, battle of, 628 

Navies, see Militarism 

Navigation Laws, 68, 69-70 

Navy Law German, 312-313 

Near Eastern Question, see Table of Con- 
tents, ch. xxvii 

Netherlands, Austrian, see Belgium 

Netherlands, the, 17, 484-489, 659 

New Zealand, 412, 422 

Newcomen, 31 

Newman, Cardinal, 80 

Nice, 211, 2-15 

Nicholas, Grand Duke, 736 

Nicholas, of Montenegro, 640 

Nicholas I, of Russia, 135, 162, 504-507, 510, 
628, 629 

Nicholas II, of Russia, 531, 546, 698, 699, 
743. {See also ch. xxm) 

Nightingale, Florence, 631 

Nihilism, 516-518, 521, 526 

Nivelle, General, 733 

Nobel, Alfred, 697 

Nogi, General, 669 

Nonconformists, see Dissenters 

Norway, iS, 474-476, 477-478, 609 

Novara, battle of, 206 

Novi-Bazaar, 634, 648 



Oastler, 66 

Obdenovitch, Milash, 629 

O'Brien, William Smith, 392 

O'Connell, Daniel, 79, 387 

O'Connor, Feargus, 72 

October, Manifesto of, by the Tsar, 556, 566 

Octobrists, 557, 560, 561, 564 

Oersted, 615 

Official candidates, 145-146, 156, 232 

Oise, battle of the, 755 

Oku, General, 669 

Old Believers, 526, 537 

Old Catholics, 291 

Ollivier, Emile, 157, 160, 189, 190 

Ollivier, Sidney, 593 

Olmiitz, humiliation of, 138, 175, 181, 183 ■ 

Omdurman, battle of, 406 

Ontario, 408 

Opium WaT, 659 

Orange, House of, see Netherlands 

Orange Free State, 413, 416, 417 

Orders, religious, 155, 198, 258-260, 290, 384, 

460, 466, 471 
Orleanists, 220, 227 
Orleans, Duke of, see Louis Philippe 
Orsini, 212 
Orthodox Church, 430, 505-506, 525, 532, 

536-537 
Osbourne Judgment, 348 
Oscar II, of Sweden, 475 
Osman Pasha, 633 
Otto I, of Greece, 628, 638 
Ottoman Empire, see Turkey 
Owen, Robert, 58, 66, 344, 575-576 
Oxford Movement, 80-81 
Oyama, Marshal, 669 

Pacifism, see Peace Movement 

Painleve, 753 

Pale, English, 382, 383; Jewish, 532, 535, 566 

Palestine, 536, 629 

Palmerston, Lord, 67, 73 

Panama Canal, 652 

Panama scandal, 241-242 

Pan-Germans, 284 

Pan-Hellenism, see Greece 

Pankhurst, Emmeline, 608 

Pan-Slavism, 133, 134, 441, 627, 633, 685, 
686, 707-708 

Papacy, see Catholic Church 

Papal Guarantees, Law of, 446-447 

Papal, Infallibility, 290 

Papal States, 201 

Paris, Congress of, 211, 631, 693 

Paris, Comte de, 220, 230 

Paris, declaration of, 693-694 

Paris, rebuilding of, 150; exposition of, 153; 
siege of, 193 

Parliament Act (191 1), 363 

Parma, 19, 199, 201, 215 

Parnell, 390, 393 

Peace Conferences, see Hague Peace Con- 
ferences 

Peace Movement, 693-699 

Peace Proposals (World War) Russian, 744; 
German, 748, 752, 756; Papal, 748-749; 
American, 749; British, 749 

Pearse, 751 

Peary, 620 

Peasantry, see Agriculture 



8oo 



INDEX 



Pedro, Dom, 468 

Peel, Sir Robert, 67, 68, 71, 329, 330 

Pelloutier, 268 

Penny Post, 64 

Perry, Commodore, 665 

Persia, 673-674 

Peter, of Serbia, 640, 706 

Peterloo Massacre, 59 

Phoenix Park murders, 392 

Physics, progress of, 615-616 

Picardy, battle of, 754-755 

Picquart, Colonel, 249-250, 252, 253, 

255 
Piedmont, see Sardinia 
Pitt, William, 385 
Pius IX, pope, 153, 204-205, 207, 218, 290, 

292, 432, 447 
Pius X, Pope, 260, 262, 453, 471 
Place, Francis, 58, 434 
Plassey, battle of, 400 
Plehve, 548, 549-550 
Plekhanov, 557 
Plevna, siege of, 633 
Plombieres, interview at, 212 
Pobiedonostsev, 525, 556 
Pogroms, 549-550,560,563. {See also Jews, 

in Russia) 
Poincare, 271 
Poles, Austrian, 427, 428; Prussian, 314- 

316; Russian, 181, 502-503, 506-507, 514- 

515, 528, 529, 530-53I, 554, 560, 562, 743, 

748 
Poles, discovery of the, 619-620 
Polignac, 96 
Political Economy, study of, see Manchester 

School 
Polo, Marco, 658 
Poor Law, English, 50, 63 
Port Arthur, 551, 668, 669, 672 
Portsmouth, peace of, 670 
Portugal, 467-471, 659, 680, 734 
Possibilists, 591 
Prague, treaty of, 183 
Prague, university of, 433 
Prim, General, 463 
Primogeniture, 96, 248, 350 
Prisoner of the Vatican, 447-448 
Prison reform, English, 52, 63 
Progress, the Industrial Revolution and, 43- 

44 

Proletariat, see Working class 

Proportional Representation, 270-271, 397, 
492-493 

Protection, in Germany, 126-128, 304-305, 
310; in Great Britain, 68-71, 327, 370- 
371, 422-423, 721; in France, 152-153, 
246; in Italy, 449 

Proudhon, 597-598 

Prussia, expansion of, 119; French Revolu- 
tion and, 11; Napoleon I and, 15, 119- 
120; regeneration of, 11, 120; the Congress 
of Vienna and, 19; the German Confedera- 
tion and, 122 ; the Zollverein and, 127; revo- 
lution of 1848 in, 128-130; reaction in, 
130, 138, 169-170; patriotic historians of, 
177-179; Seven Weeks' War, 179-184; 
Franco-Prussian War, 184-194; privileges 
of, in German Empire, 280; government 
of, 280-281; see also Bismarck, Germany 

Punjab, 401 



Quadrilateral, 213 
Quadruple Alliance, 20 
Quanta Cura, 290 
Quebec, 408 
Quebec Act, 407-408 
Quincy, Thomas de, 85 
Quinet, 148 
Quirinal, 448 

Radetzky, General, 133, 134, 206 

Radicals, British, 58; French, 90-91, 238, 
271 ; German, 130. {See Liberalism) 

Raillies, 258 

Railways, backward countries and, 702; na- 
tionalism and, 41, 289, 719; trunk, 650- 
651; Chinese, 661-662; British, 76-77; 
French, 92-93, 151-152, 245; German, 305; 
Russian, 543; Turkish, 702-705 

Rand, the, 414 

Ranke, Ludwig von, 140 

Rasputin, 743 

Realistic School (in literature), 167, 273 

Red Cross, 631, 694 

Red Sunday, 553-554 

Redmond, 391, 395, 398, 750 

Reform banquets, 102-103 

Reform Bill (1832), 57-62; (1867), 75, 345; 
(1884), 334; (1918), 751 

Reformists, see Socialism, and revisionism 

Reign of Terror, 12 

Reinsurance Treaty (Germany and Russia), 
312, 685 

Reis, 33 

Religious equality, 78-80, 338-341, 387-388, 
644,744 

Religious revival, and Restoration, 22-23 

Renan, 148, 166-167 

Republicanism, in China, 663-664; in France, 
11-13, 91, 96, 97, 103-108, 109, 149, 156, 
158-159, 160, 164, ch. xi; in Italy, 195, 
203-204, 205, 207/214, 215,216,443; in 
Portugal, 468, 470-471; in Spain, 463- 
464; in Switzerland, 494-498 

Restoration, in Europe, 17-24; failure of, 24; 
in France, 94-97; in Germany, 120-122; 
in Italy, 198-199; in Portugal, 467-468; 
in Spain, 459-460 

Revanche, 242, 595 

Revisionism, see Socialism, and revisionism 

Revolution, agricultural, see Agriculture, 
revolution in 

Revolution, Chinese, 663-664 

Revolution, French, see French Revolution 

Revolution, Industrial, see Industrial Revo- 
lution 

Revolution, Intellectual, see Intellectual 
Revolution 

Revolution of 1820, in Italy, 200-201; in 
Spain, 460-461 

Revolution of 1830, in Belgium, 485-486; 
in Italy, 201 ; in France, 67-97 

Revolution of 1848, in Central Europe, 128- 
138; in France, 102-103; in Holland, 4S6- 
487; in Italy, 205-207 

Revolution, Persian, 673-674 

Revolution, Portuguese, 470 

Revolution, Russian (1905), ch. xxiii; (191 7) 
742-748 

Revolution, Spanish, 463-464 

Revolution, Turkish, 643-646 



INDEX 



80 1 



Revolutionary Movement, Russian, 516- 
520 

Rhodes, Cecil, 407, 415, 416 

Rhodesia, 407 

Ribot, 753 

Ricardo, 43, 65 

Ricasoli, 218, 450 

Riksakl of 1815, 474 

Risorgimento, 202, 208, 455. (See ch. x) 

Ritual murder case, 546 

Rivet Law, 227 

Roberts, General, 417 

Robespierre, 12 

Rochefort, 158, 243 

Rodjestvensky, Admiral, 669 

Rosier, 490 

Romagna, 215 

Roman Question, 218 

Roman Republic, 205, 207 

Romanov, House of, see Russia 

Romantic School in literature, in England, 
80, 82; in France, 110-112 

Rome, uprising in, 205 ; capture of, 219 

Romilly, Sir Samuel, 63 

Rontgen, 619 

Roon, Albrecht von, 172, 188, 189 

Roosevelt, President, 670, 699 

Rosebery, Lord, 336, 362 

Rotativism, 464-465, 468-469, 470 

Rousseau, 7 

Rouvier, 261 

Rumania, 623, 632, 633, 637-638, 648, 717, 
754 

Rumanians, in Hungary, 438; in Russia, 530 

Rumelia, 633, 634, 636 

Rumford, Count, 616 

Ruskin, 374~375 

Russell, Lord John, 60, 67, 71, 74, 75 

Russia, Napoleon and, 15; the Congress of 
Vienna and, 18; (1815-1881), 499-523; 
at the end of the nineteenth century, 524- 
545; the Revolution of 1905, 546-569 (see 
Table of Contents, chs. xxi, xxn, and 
xxm) ; and China, 660, 661 ; expansion of, 
671-674; international relations of, see 
ch. xxrx; and Japan, 550, 560, 668-670, 
671; and the Near East, 333, 515, 627, 
632-635, 641, 649, 706; and Persia, 674; 
and Revolution of 1848, 135; and the World 
War, 712-714, 742-748 

Russian Revolution, see Revolution, Russian 

Russo-Japanese War, 550, 560, 668-670 

Russo-Turkish War (1828), 628; (1877- 
1878), 333, 515, 632-635 

Ruthenians, 427, 428, 437. (See also Ukrai- 
nians) 

Sabotage, 601 

Sadowa, battle of, 163, 182 

Sagasta, 464 

Saint-Just, 12 

Saint-Simon, 150, 574-575 

Sainte-Beuve, 165-166 

Sakhalin, 670 

Salisbury, Lord, 313, 335.336, 337, 394, 406, 

635, 690 
Saloniki, 437, 647, 648 
Samurai, 667 
Sand, George, 113 
San River, battle of, 729 



San Stefano, treaty of, 633-634 

Sarajevo, murder at, 710 

Sardinia, 19, 201, 205-206, 207. (See also 
Italy) 

Savannah (Steamboat), 32 

Savofi, General, 646 

Savoy, 211, 215. (See also Sardinia, Italy) 

Savoy, House of, see Sardinia; Italy 

Saxony, 19, 182 

Sazonov, 713, 714 

Scheer, Admiral, 738 

Scheurer-Kestner, 252 

Schleswig-Holstein, 162, 179-180, 181, 183, 
314, 473 

Schmoller, Professor, 585 

Schurz, Carl, 130 

Science, 611-620 (see Table of Contents, 
ch. xxvi); and agriculture, 301, 614- 
615; and literature, 86; and war, 696 

Scott, Captain R. F., 620 

Scott, Sir Walter, 84-85 

Scrutin de liste, 235, 242, 243 

Scutari, 647, 649 

Sebastopoi, siege of, 507, 630 

Sects, religious, see Dissenters 

Sedan, battle of, 192 

Seize Mai, 232 

Sella, 450 

Sembat, 752 

Senegal, 240 

Separation Law, French, 260-263; Portu- 
guese, 470-471 

Sepoys, 401 

September Act, French, 230 

September Laws, 100 

Serbia (Serbs), 427, 428, 437, 623, 629, 633, 
634, 639-640, 646, 648, 706-707; and the 
World War, 710-712, 717, 733-734 

Serfdom, in Europe, 5; in Prussia, 120; in 
Russia, 502, 507-513 

Sergius, Grand Duke, 549, 552 

Seven Weeks' War, 163, 179-184, 426 

Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry, 620 

Shaftesbury, Lord, 65 

Shaw, George Bernard, 356, 379-380, 593 

Shelley, 82 

Shevket Pasha, 643 

Shimonoseki, treaty of, 661 

Shipping, British, 77, 368; French, 93, 152, 
245; German, 300; Italian, 449; Nor- 
wegian, 478 

Shogun, 665-666 

Shuster, W. Morgan, 674 

Siberia, 506, 527, 529, 539, 563 

Siccardi Laws, 210 

Sicilian Expedition, 216-217 

Sicily, 19. (See also Two Sicilies, kingdom 
of the) 

Siemens-Martin process, see Steel, process 
of making 

Sigel, Franz, 130 

Sikhs, 401, 403 

Simon, Jules, 109, 148, 231 

Sinn Fein, 751 

Sipiagin, 548, 549 

Six Acts, 59 

Slave-trade, 676 

Slavery, abolition of, by Great Britain, 62 

Slavophilism, 525, 526 

Slavs, Austrian, 440, 427-431, 433; Balkan, 



802 



INDEX 



623; German, 314-316; Hungarian, 437; 
Russian, 529; Southern, 134-135, 427, 428, 

433. 707, 7ii 

Slovaks, 427 

Slovenes, 427, 433 

Smith, Adam, 8, 43, 68-69 

Smith, Sidney, 387 

Smuts, General, 737 

Snowden, 594 

Socialism, revolutionary, 570; indictment of 
present society, 570-572; character and 
aims of, 572-573; Utopian, 573-577; 
Marxian, 577-582; criticism of, 583-586; 
international, 586-587; in Austria, 435, 
594; in Belgium, 491; in France, 103, 149, 
226, 238-239, 251, 264, 272, 591-593; 
see also June Days and Commune in Ger- 
many, 292-293, 310, 319, 588-591, 596; 
in Great Britain, 593-594, see also Labor 
Party, English; in Hungary, 441; in Italy, 
444. 452, 453-454, 594-595; in the Nether- 
lands, 487; in Russia, 557-559, 560, 561, 
563, 744-745; in Sweden, 477; and Cath- 
olicism, 585-586; and English literature, 
377-378; and internationalism, 581-582, 
710; and militarism, 595-596; and revision- 
ism, 590-591; and war, 596-597; and the 
World War, 596-597. 751-752, 752-753 

Socialism, Christian, 81, 435-436, 585-586 

Socialism, Orthodox (scientific), see Social- 
ism, Marxian 

Socialism, state, 584-585. (See also Social 
legislation) 

Social legislation, in Australia, 412; in 
Belgium, 491; in France, 149-150, 264- 
266; in Germany, 293-297; in Great 
Britain, 355-356, 364-367; in Italy, 449- 
450; in New Zealand, 412. (See also 
Factory legislation) 

Solferino, battle of, 213 

Somme, battle of the, 734 

Sonderbund, 495 

Sorel, 602 

South Africa, 18, 413-417, 676, 736-737 

South African Union, 417 

Soviets, 744 

Spain, Napoleon I and, 15; the Congress of 
Vienna and, 18; restoration in, 459-460; 
revolutionary movement in, 460-462; 
dynastic struggles in, 462-464; political 
history of (1885-1914), 464-467; Africa 
and, 680 

Spanish-American War, 465 

Spee, Admiral, 738 

Spencer, Herbert, 613 

Stambulov, 636 

Stanley, 677 

Steam-engine, invention of, 31 

Steam navigation, 32-33, 651. (See also 
Shipping) 

Steel, process of making, 31-32, 244, 300, 
652 

Stein, Baron von, 17, 120 

Steinmetz, General, 191 

Stephenson, George, 33 

Stepniak, 518, 519 

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 376 

St. Helena, 15 

Stoessel, General, 669 

Stolypin, 561, 563, 564, 569 



Strike, general, see General Strike 

Strindberg, 481-482 

Stundists, 537 

Sturdee, Admiral, 738 

Submarines, 725, 739, 740-742 

Sudan, 405, 406, 680 

Suez Canal, 333, 404, 642, 652, 673, 700 

Suffrage, English theory of, 47 (see Democ- 
racy); woman, see Woman Suffrage 

Suffragettes, 608-609 

Sun Yat-sen, 663 

Surgery, 618-619 

Suttee, 403 

Sviatopolk-Mirski, Prince, 551-552 

Sweden, 18, 474-477, 609 

Swedes, in Finland, 530 

Switzerland, 18, 494-498 

Sybel, Heinrich von, 171 

Syllabus of Modern Errors, 290 

Syndicalism, 268-270, 272, 453, 454, 599- 
602, 710 

Taaffe, Count, 433 

Taff Vale Decision, 346-347 

Taine, 166 

Taiping Rebellion, 660 

"Tanks," 724; battle of the, 754 

Tannenberg, battle of, 728 

Tariff, see Protection 

Tariff Reform, see Protection, in England 

Tartars, 529 

Tcheidze, 743 

Tchernesevsky, 517 

Telegraph, sec Communication 

Telephone, sec Communication 

Tennyson, 372 

Terror, Reign of, 12 

Terrorism, Russian, 518-520, 524, 542, 552, 

559 
Thackeray, 88 
Thessaly, 638 

Thibault, see France, Anatole 
Thiers, 101, 193, 220-222, 227 
Third Section, Russian, 505, 519, 542 
Thomas process, see Steel, process of making 
Thompson, Benjamin, see Rumford, Count 
Thorbecke, 486, 487 
Thrace, 646, 648 

Three Emperors' League, see Dreikaiserbund 
Three-class system, Prussian, 130, 280-281, 

310-320 
Tibet, 619 

Tientsin, treaty of, 659 
Tirpitz, Admiral von, 313 
Tisza, Count, 439, 440 
Todleben, General, 631, 633 
Togo, Admiral, 669 
Tolstoy, Count Dmitri, 526 
Tolstoy, Count Leo, 522-523, 698 
Tonkin, 240, 660 
Tory democracy, 331 
Townshend, General, 736 
Townshend, Viscount, 54 
Tractarians, sec Oxford Movement 
Trade unions, British, 342-350; French, 99, 

266-270; Italian, 454; Russian, 553 
Trans-Siberian Railway, 543, 668, 672, 687 
Transportation, revolution in, see Railways; 

Steam navigation 
Transvaal, sec South Africa 



INDEX 



803 



Treitschke, Heinrich von, 1 71-172 

Trentino, see Italia irredenta 

Trepov, General, 519, 552, 556 

Trieste, see Italia irredenta 

Trinidad, 18 

Triple Alliance, 239, 289, 312, 455, 684-686, 
692, 707 

Triple Entente, 692-693 

Tripoli, 455, 645, 680 

Tripolitan War, see Italo-Turkish War 

Troppan, congress of, 21, 200, 504 

Trotzky, 746-748 

Tsushima, battle of, 551, 670 

Tull, Jethro, 53 

Tunis, 240, 681 

Turgeniev, 516, 521 

Turkey and Egypt, 102, 404; expansion of, 
621; races in, 621-624; religions in, 624- 
625; government of, 625-626; and Europe, 
626, 641, 645-646, 694; and Russia, 515, 
626-627, 629-635, 641; and Great Britain, 
627, 635, 641 , 704-705 ; Armenian massacres 
in, 641; and Germany, 635, 642, 702-705, 
revolution of "Young Turks" in, 455, 642- 
643; and France, 644; liberal era in, 644- 
645; and Austria, 634, 645, 706; and Italy, 
595, 645, 679-680; and Balkan Wars, 646- 
649; and the World War, 717-718; for 
relations of, with Balkan States, see Al- 
bania; Bulgaria; Greece; Montenegro: 
Rumania; Serbia 

Tuscany, 19, 199, 215 

Two Sicilies, kingdom of, 19, 198, 200, 216- 
217 

U-Boat, see Submarines 

Uitlanders, see South Africa 

Ukraine, 428, 529, 745, 746-747, 748 

Ulster, 383, 385, 386, 390, 395-398 

Ultramontanes, see Catholic Church 

Ultras, 95 

Umbria, 217 

Uniate Church, 430, 506 

Union and Progress, Committee of, 643 

United Irishmen, 385 

United States, and Cuba, 465; and Japan, 

671; and the Monroe Doctrine, 462; and 

the World War, 739-742 
Upper Canada, see Ontario 
Utopianism, 573-577. 582 

Vail, 33 

Vasa, House of, 474 

Vatican, see Catholic Church 

Vatican Council, 290 

Venetia, 181, 183, 219 

Venezuela Affair, 338 

Venizelos, 639, 646, 717, 734, 735 

Verdun, 239; battle of, 732-733 

Verlaine, 274-275 

Verona, congress of, 461 

Veuillot, 155 

Viborg Manifesto, 561 

Victor Emmanuel I, of Sardinia, 198, 201 

Victor Emmanuel II, of Italy, 206, 208, 217, 

218, 451 
Victor Emmanuel III, of Italy, 453 
Victoria, Queen, 67, 333, 402, 420 
Victorian Age (in literature), 85-86 
Vienna, congress of, 17-20, 484, 693 



Vigny, Alfred de, 112 
Villafranca, peace of, 213 
Viviani, 256, 752, 753 
Vlachs, 623 
Vladivostok, 672 
Voltaire, 7 
Volturno, battle of, 217 

Wagner, Professor, 585 

Waldeck-Rousseau, 229, 254, 256, 258, 259 
267, 592 

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 613 

Wallachia, 630, 631, 632 

Walloons, 490 

War, science and, 696 

Warfare, new methods of, 724-725 

Warren, 618 

Warsaw, grand duchy of, 18 

Wartburg festival, 125 

Waterloo, battle of, 15 

Watt, 31 

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, 356, 593 

Wekerle, 440 

Wellington, Duke of, 17, 59, 60, 72, 79 

Wells, H. G., 380-381, 593 

Welt&olitik, 688 

Weyler, General, 465 

Whitbread, 51 

White Russians, 529 

Whitney, Eli, 30 

Wilberforce, 62 

Wilhelmina, of the Netherlands, 488 

William, of Albania, 649 

William I, of Germany (and Prussia), 172. 
188, 189, 194, 308 

William II, of Germany, 308-314, 642, 6S7, 
688, 700, 706, 707 

William IV, of Great Britain, 59, 67 

William I, of the Netherlands, 484, 485, 486 

William II, of the Netherlands, 486 

William III, of the Netherlands, 487, 488 

Wilson, president, 739-742, 749 

Windischgraetz, 133, 134 

Windthorst, 291 

Wireless telegraphy, see Communication, 
revolution in 

Wiseman, Cardinal, 80, 81 

Witte, Count, 543, 556, 650 

Wohler, 614 

Wollstonecraft, Mary, 605-606 

Woman, position of, 603—604; and education, 
604-605; man's attitude toward, 605; the 
French Revolution and, 605-606; the In- 
dustrial Revolution and, 606-607; progress 
of, in France, 610; in Germany, 610; in 
Great Britain, 609; suffrage in Australia, 
412; in Finland, 555, 610; in Great Britain, 
335. 607-609, 751; in New Zealand, 412; 
in Scandinavia, 473, 476, 477, 609-610 

Woman Suffrage, see Woman Suffrage, in the 
various countries 

Women, employment of, 39, 49-50, 605. 
(See also Social legislation; Factory legis- 
lation) 

Wordsworth, 84 

Working class, origin of, 38; condition of, 
38-40; and the World War, 709-710; Bel- 
gian, 491, 492; British, 49-51, 58. 61, 65- 
66, 71-72, 75-76, 328, 331, 342-350; 355- 
357. 307; French, 91, 93, 97, 98, 99-100, 



8o4 



INDEX 



103-105, 109, 150, 222, 228, 264, 266-270; 

German, 285, 294-295, 306; Italian, 445- 
446, 449, 452, 454; Russian, 544-545, 553. 
555. 558-559, 562, 567, 743, 744, 745 = 
Spanish, 467; Swedish, 477. (See also 
Anarchism; Factory legislation; Socialism; 
Social legislation; Syndicalism; Trade 
Unions) 

World War, 709-756, see Table of Contents, 
ch. xxx 

Worth, battle of, 192 

Xavier, St. Francis, 665 
X-ray, 619 

Yalu, battle of the, 669 
Yellow Peril, 670 
Yeomanry, English, 54-55 
Young, Arthur, 54 



Young China, 663 

Young Germany, 123-126, 142 

Young Italy, 201-205 

Young Ireland, 392 

Young Turkey, 642-646 

Younghusband, 619 

Yuan-shi-kai, 664 

Zabern Affair, 317 

Zapadniki, 526 

Zasiilitch, Vera, 519 

Zemstvos, 513-514, 527, 540, 546, 547, 551, 

555, 556, 743 
Zeppelins, 724-725 
Zhukovsky, 508 
Zionism, 536 

Zola, 252-253, 255, 273-274 
Zollverein, 126-128 
Zurich, treaty of, 214 



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